Theological Commentary: Click Here
I love the
way that Isaiah 59 opens. Is the hand of
the Lord shortened so that it is unable to save? Of course not! God can save.
Are the ears of the Lord so dull that they cannot hear the cries for
salvation? Of course not! God knows all things and can hear all things.
Isaiah’s
point is that God is still God. He is
omniscient and omnipotent. God is
capable of living up to His promises.
God is capable of bestows grace and mercy. He is capable of saving and redeeming.
What is the
issue, then? If God is capable, why do
people find themselves in positions of needing salvation without being
rescued? Specifically, why do the Hebrew
people go off into exile when their god is more than capable of protecting
them? The answer is simple. It is the iniquity of the people that have
put up the barrier. People do it to
themselves. We create separation from
God, not the other way around. Our sin
drives us from Him, not Him from us. We
are the guilty and incapable, not God.
All of this
being said – and all of the consequences of our sinfulness taken into account –
there is a really neat prophecy of hope given at the end of this chapter. In spite of the rebellion of the people, god
promises that His Word will always be among them. This goes back to what was said earlier. We drive ourselves from God, not the other
way around. We put distance between us
and God, yet God never leaves us. His
words are with us always, even when our sin forces us to turn our back upon
Him.
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