The Power of Sin

Gerald Sittser wrote that loss was “like a closed road that forces us to turn around and find another way to our destination. Who knows what we will discover along the way.”

Overview: The first verse of the book of Isaiah gives proof of the author of this book, Isaiah, the son of Amoz.  Isaiah was a prophet who prophesied at the most crucial period in the history of Judah and Israel which made up the northern and the southern kingdoms.  Israel had fallen to pagan worship.  Judah plummeted into moral and spiritual decay. Isaiah writes to pronounce God’s displeasure with the sin of Judah, Israel, and the other surrounding areas.  Isaiah tries to turn the people from disobedience to obedience so that disaster may be avoided. He also describes a foundation of hope and promise to those who remain faithful to God and His commands. Chapter 59 illustrates how sin separates us from fellowship with God and how repentance from sin can bring us back into a full, healthy relationship with God. Isaiah also shows how God will defend and deliver His people from the enemy’s attack.

Memory verse: Isaiah 59:19 – So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun; when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.

Isaiah 59

1 Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; 
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, 
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue has muttered perversity.
4 No one calls for justice,
Nor does any plead for truth.
They trust in empty words and speak lies; 
They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.
6 Their webs will not become garments,
Nor will they cover themselves with their works; 
Their works are works of iniquity,
And the act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed innocent blood; 
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; 
Wasting and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they have not known, 
And there is no justice in their ways;
They have made themselves crooked paths; 
Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.
9 Therefore justice is far from us,
Nor does righteousness overtake us; 
We look for light, but there is darkness!
For brightness, but we walk in blackness!
10 We grope for the wall like the blind, 
And we grope as if we had no eyes; 
We stumble at noonday as at twilight;
We are as dead men in desolate places.
11 We all growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves;
We look for justice, but there is none; 
For salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before You, 
And our sins testify against us;
For our transgressions are with us,
And as for our iniquities, we know them:
13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, 
And departing from our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 Justice is turned back,
And righteousness stands afar off; 
For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter.
15 So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. 
Then 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 intercessor; 
Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him;
And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.
17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, 
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, 
And was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, 
Fury to His adversaries,
Recompense to His enemies; 
The coastlands He will fully repay.
19 So shall they fear
The name of the LORD from the west, 
And His glory from the rising of the sun; 
When the enemy comes in like a flood,
The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.
20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion,
And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” Says the LORD.21 “As for Me,” says the LORD, “this is My covenant with them: 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 descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the LORD, “from this time and forevermore.”

Confession: I will keep my heart clean before the Lord so that my fellowship with Him is not interrupted. His Spirit is upon me and His Words are in my mouth. I will walk in the covenant we share and I will trust the Lord to deal with my enemies.

THOUGHTS...INSIGHT...What is the Lord saying to me? Leave a comment below.