Isaiah 59:15-21
15 The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. 17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. 18 According to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment. 19 So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come like a rushing stream, which the wind of the Lord drives. 20 “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord. 21 “And 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 mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.”
ESV Study Bible Notes:
- Isa. 59:14–20 Human sin is so radical that only God can redeem the guilty.
- Isa. 59:14–15a Guilty mankind has so rejected justice, righteousness, truth, and uprightness that godliness is persecuted. truth has stumbled in the public squares.
- The people no longer have any publicly acknowledged standard of truth.
- Falsehood is freely proclaimed and readily accepted.
- He who departs from evil (i.e., the evil that the people are doing) makes himself a prey (i.e., he is hunted like an animal).
- Isa. 59:15b–16 it displeased him . . . his own arm brought him salvation.
- God, who is offended by sin, is the only one able to accomplish salvation.
- his righteousness upheld him.
- His faithfulness to his covenant promises was expressed in what he did.
- Isa. 59:17 God displayed (put on) the powers of a fully equipped warrior.
- God not only forgives sin; he opposes it with all his might (cf. 42:13; 63:1–6). On the “armor of God” (Eph. 6:11–17) as the equipment of the Messiah, see note on Isa. 11:5.
- Isa. 59:18 According to . . . so.
- Perfect justice, measure-for-measure, in a final settlement.
- to the coastlands.
- There is no hiding place, however remote (cf. Amos 9:2–4).
- Isa. 59:19 To fear the name of the Lord is the right response to him (Deut. 28:58; Neh. 1:11; Ps. 61:5; 86:11; Mal. 4:2).
- This passage reflects the expectation that all kinds of people will know the Lord and fear his name (cf. 2 Chron. 6:33; Ps. 102:15; Mal. 1:11).
- the west . . . the rising of the sun.
- Opposite directions, suggesting the entire world (cf. Isa. 45:6; 52:10; Mal. 1:11).
- a rushing stream . . . the wind.
- The power of God, applied with double force.
- Isa. 59:20 a Redeemer.
- See note on 41:14.
- The Redeemer is the sole alternative to the wrath of God (see 59:18).
- Only the redemption of God saves from his wrath.
- In Rom. 11:26–27, Paul combines this verse (from the lxx) with Jer. 31:33 (and perhaps Isa. 27:9) to describe his hope for his ethnic kin.
- Isa. 59:21 And as for me.
- God declares his commitment to his people.
- My covenant with them is the messianic servant, the Redeemer of v. 20 (cf. 42:6; 49:8). My Spirit that is upon you, i.e., upon the Messiah (cf. 61:1).
- my words.
- All the words that God speaks to his people through his prophets (cf. Deut. 18:18).
- But the promise does not apply only to the prophets who first spoke God’s words, for their offspring and their children’s offspring shall also have these words and will speak them to others.
- This promise implies that God’s people would preserve his words spoken by the prophets; this process ultimately resulted in the written words of the Bible.
