Rushing Streams of Power
I’m in the final month of a study in the book of Isaiah that has spanned the last six months. I’ve loved how Isaiah speaks to the people of his day, but the prophecy also speaks to us. Our Redeemer will come! I spent today in chapters 58-59, where Isaiah is commanded to proclaim to God’s people their sin (58:1). The people seek God, yet it appears that God takes no notice (2a). Isaiah declares God is not answering their fasting and humbling before Him (3a) because they seek Him “as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God” (2b).
Doesn’t that ring with the sound of modern-day cries? Spiritual actions driven by self, seeking pleasure and the oppression of enemies’ (3-4) and then crying because God fails to deliver as we desired. Many approach faith solely to meet felt needs, and God rejects such selfish, false piety. Isaiah explains that God accepts the fast that “loose the bonds of wickedness, undo the straps of the yoke, let the oppressed go free, break every yoke” is the fast that God blesses (6). God looks for the one looking beyond himself, with eyes on social justice that springs from a heart that believes that God’s justice has been satisfied in Christ (8-9a).
But sin has separated God’s people from Him (59:2); therefore, justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us. We hope for light and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom (59:9). We grope … we stumble … we growl … we moan … we hope for justice, but there is none. Salvation is far from us (59:10-11).
Hoping for light
It has been over a year of hoping for light and brightness, yet we continue to stumble, grope, growl and moan. There is no justice. No salvation. Why?
God lists the sins that have separated Him from his people: denying the Lord, turning back from following God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lies (12-13). Justice, righteousness, truth, uprightness are blocked. There is no standard of truth. He who departs from evil makes himself prey (12-15).
Whoa – Isaiah penned this thousands of years ago, yet it describes today very well. Article headlines seem to be filled with people denying God and declaring their faith in objects unable to deliver hope. Oppression and revolts are frequent. It’s getting harder and harder to discern between truthful reports and lies. Those fighting for justice, righteousness, truth, and unrighteousness are blocked. He who separates from the evil of the day makes himself prey.
It feels like the attacks are coming from all directions, inside the church and outside the church. But God sees (14b), and it displeases him that there is no one to intercede, so God intercedes. Only God can redeem a people this far gone. “His own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him (16). He will come like a rushing stream which the wind of the Lord drives (19).
I love that description! A rushing stream which the wind of the Lord drives. It illustrates the power of God that prompts the proper response of awe and fear. Our Redeemer will come! He comes to those in Jacob who turn from transgression (20). This is God’s covenant with them:
“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit who 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 offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from now and forever.”
Isaiah 59:21
Our Redeemer will Come
I’m still working through what all this meant to the people back then and how we can apply the universal truths to us now. But as I work through all that, I am encouraged to see that the battles we face today are not new. As we repent of seeking the Lord for selfish gain and humbly return to seeking His face to do His will, as we separate ourselves from evil and understand it paints a target on our back, we put all our hope in God because only God can redeem a people this far gone.
He saw back then. He sees right now. He said the redeemer “will come,” and He did. He came in the person of Jesus Christ (bolded emphasis mine):
1 Corinthians 1:30, “But it is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Galatians 4:4-5 “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters.”
Ephesians 1:7, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace.”
1 Peter 1:18-21, “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”
John 14:1-3 (Jesus speaking), “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
Our Redeemer came, and our Redeemer lives. Our Redeemer is coming again.
Come, Lord Jesus, come.
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