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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 59:16 - 59:21
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The Lord Making Ready for Judgment and Redemption
v. 15. b. And the Lord saw it, namely, the desperate condition of His people, and It displeased Him that there was no judgment, that no one interfered to punish and to deliver.
v. 16. And He saw that there was no man, no hero, no champion to work deliverance, and wondered that there was no intercessor, none to interpose in behalf of the oppressed people; therefore His arm brought salvation unto him, to Israel, and His righteousness, it sustained him, He gave evidence of His zeal for the salvation of them whom He had chosen for His own, for He is the Redeemer of His Church. The Lord called upon His omnipotence and His mercy, as the expression of His covenant faithfulness, in bringing salvation to His faithful people.
v. 17. For He put on righteousness, the mercy promised to His people, as a breastplate and an helmet of salvation upon His head, with which He intended to hearten Himself in His struggle for the redemption of mankind; and He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak, His wrath upon His enemies causing Him to attack them in fury, to let His judgment go forth upon them.
v. 18. According to their deeds, as they had richly deserved, accordingly He will repay: fury to His adversaries, by which they would be consumed, recompense to His enemies; to the islands, the heathen nations of the shores and islands of the Mediterranean, He will repay recompense, making them the object of His avenging fury.
v. 19. So shall they, men in every part of the world, fear the name of the Lord, with the reverence of true faith, from the West and His glory from the rising of the sun, many heathen being filled with the knowledge of the merciful redemption of the Lord. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him, literally, "For He will come like an enclosed stream whom the breath of Jehovah drives. " The Lord, who is coming, is the rushing stream, and He is urged forward by the Spirit of revenge and of salvation, bringing destruction to His enemies and salvation to those who accept Him in faith.
v. 20. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, the promised Messiah making His appearance in the fullness of time, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, such as had left the covenant faithfulness, but had turned back to the Lord with a repentant heart, saith the Lord. Although, under the circumstances, the redemption of Jacob seems almost unbelievable, yet the promise of the Lord is there to assure this deliverance; for whosoever turns to Him in true repentance will become partaker of the salvation gained for the whole world.
v. 21. As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the Lord, this explains why He had not rejected the entire nation outright: My Spirit that is upon thee, upon Israel, especially in its representative leaders and prophets, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, the Word of salvation remaining with His Church forever, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, the spiritual seed of Israel, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever. The Lord kept His covenant faithfulness to the end, the entire history of the Church, both before and after the coming of the Messiah being proof of that fact. His mercy includes not only all the true descendants of the patriarchs in Israel, but embraces heathen from every nation in the world as well.