Isaiah 59:19-21. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on May 21, 2017.
In Acts 1:4 it says of Jesus and his disciples, “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, ‘Which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’” We are going to take some time to answer the question, “What promise from the Father is He talking about?” There are many promises throughout the Old Testament of the Bible, some of them promise blessing, and some of them promise judgment. But Jesus is clearly referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Throughout the Old Testament we see at first hints of this promised giving of the Holy Spirit. However several places in the prophets make a clear promise from God that this day was coming. Just as people were baptized in water by John to point to a spiritual inward act of repentance, so at a higher level would be the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Repentance is good. But, if the Holy Spirit does not take up residence in our heart and then also fill us with His enabling power, moment by moment, then the repentance will fall short and our faith will wither. This baptism takes that initial connection to the Spirit of God and makes it a continual, empowering presence.
Now it is easy in this world to lose sight of the reality that God promises to place His Spirit upon us, and within us. If we try merely to be righteous without a real, abiding presence of the Lord, we will find ourselves drained of any spiritual strength, and without a sustaining hope. So let’s beware the trap of only living righteously in the natural. But, let us live out that righteousness with the empowering of the Holy Spirit.
He promises to deliver
It would be good to read the whole chapter in order to get the context of these verses. You will find two things in this passage. First, you will see that Israel had turned from God and towards unrighteousness. They had become such a wicked society that those who tried to follow the Lord made “themselves a prey” (vs. 15). It was a dangerous time to be a person who followed the ways of the Lord. The situation is so dire that the Lord is pictured in vs. 16 amazed that they had been taken captive by sin and there was no one who could step in and deliver them. We could think that surely Isaiah could be the answer. But, it takes more than a prophet to speak on behalf of God to save people from their sins. Even Isaiah himself testified that, “I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” Thus it transitions by saying that the Lord would bring forth salvation and deliverance by His own right arm.
This deliverance is described in verses 16-18. There we see a dual deliverance. Israel would be delivered from the wicked of the nations that surrounded them. However, God would also judge Israel and deliver the righteous from the unrighteous within the land. God recognized that not all Israel was righteous. In fact, though it is true that the nations persecuted and oppressed Israel, the righteous of the land were even more oppressed by the wicked that rose up from within the nation. This was not a national problem that could be fixed with a war to end all wars. It was a problem that started in the heart of every man, woman, boy, and girl. So what is a person who wants to serve God supposed to do? They need to recognize the reality that we can easily see the sins of others and blame them for our struggle. But, we rarely recognize the truth that our greatest persecution comes from with our own sinful nature. Our hearts betray us and long for paths that lead to pain and destruction. Ultimately the Bible makes it clear that God is giving people a choice. You can either let God deliver you from your own sins, or you can reject him and join ranks with the rebels, both the heavenly ones (the devil and his angels) and the earthly ones (wicked humans). This promise to deliver from our external enemies and our internal threat, both foreign and domestic threats, brings us to verse 19 where the whole earth will fear the Lord when He accomplishes this deliverance. In some ways our Lord accomplished this deliverance at the cross. He made provision for our own sins to be forgiven, and He secured for us an eternal inheritance that overcomes anything the wicked of this world could do to us (including kill us). However, at our Lord’s Second Coming, the Scriptures are clear that he will remove the heavenly and earthly rebels and hand the administration of the earth over to the righteous. So in a sense we are still waiting for this to be fulfilled, all the while enjoying the benefits of our Lord’s deliverance begun at the cross.
The second part of verse 19 has a grammar issue. It is not clear just what is coming like a flood. If it is the enemy then the clause states this, “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up against it.” However, it is possible that it is the Spirit of the Lord itself that comes like a flood. And thus it would read, “The Spirit will come like a violent river against it.” In the end both options leave us with the sense that no matter what the enemy does, God has a day in which He will judge them and remove them out of the way. That day will leave the whole earth trembling in fear at His great power. We must not forget, in these days when it seems that wickedness reigns in every nation on earth, and holds the reins of power in every aspect of our societies, that God has not forsaken us. Through Jesus, He has taken up the task of delivering us as our representative champion.
However, verse 20, uses the title of this champion, The Redeemer. The word could be translated “Kinsman Redeemer,” like it is used in the book of Ruth. The idea of the Kinsman redeemer was that close relatives were to safeguard the person, property, and posterity of their extended family. Thus if someone was murdered then a close relative was to take up the role of Kinsman Redeemer. They would take on the duty of seeking out who did it and getting justice. In Ruth the issue is more about property and posterity. Ruth had married an Israelite who had sold his land and moved to Moab because of famine. When she comes to Israel, she is technically heir to his property, but doesn’t have the money to redeem it (buy it back). Not only this but, they had no children before her husband died. Thus his name or lineage was in danger of dying out. Thus the story is about Ruth asking Boaz to be a Kinsman Redeemer to her. He does this by marrying Ruth and restoring both her property and her posterity. This gives us background to why Jesus becomes a human. It is so that he can be our Kinsman redeemer. He is one of us. We are all under the threat of death due to our sins. We have been plundered of all our inheritance that God has intended for us and are spiritually childless. However, Jesus steps in and takes those who turn from transgression (vs. 20) as a bride. In Him we now have eternal life, an eternal inheritance and an eternal posterity. The deliverance is not just from external enemies, but also from a plight of powerlessness that have brought upon our self through sin. In Jesus, all that the devil has done to spoil God’s kingdom is overturned for those who “turn from transgression.” So the promise of deliverance is not to the wicked, but to those who are like Ruth. They long to take their place in God’s kingdom but are powerless to do so. These he buys back from their sin and its consequence of death. These He redeems.
He promises a covenant with the redeemed
Verse 21 states that the Lord will make a covenant with those who are being redeemed. This is clearly a covenant that is different from the covenant that God made through Moses. This is why the Bible is divided into the Old Testament (or Covenant) and a New Testament (or Covenant). The promise/covenant is basically God’s Holy Spirit. The same Spirit, that was upon Isaiah in order to reveal to Israel the Word of God, would be upon all those who are spiritually descended from him, or have the same faith as him. I say this because Jesus points out this line of argument in John 8, where the crowd in Jerusalem thought they were protected because they were Abraham’s children. Jesus challenges this assertion and points out that they are nothing like Abraham. If they were truly Abraham’s children then they would have rejoiced to see Jesus and embraced him. But, they were nothing like Abraham. They were like their true father the devil. The point is not that Jesus thinks that they are biologically from the devil. Rather, they may be biologically children of Abraham, but they are spiritually children of the devil. They have turned their back on their earthly and heavenly father, and chosen to identify with an evil, fallen father. So too in this passage, the descendants are not just biological descendants. Yes, parents must endeavor to raise up their biological children to also become their spiritual children. But, what is God’s promise to these descendants? The Spirit of God will be upon them and fill their mouths with God’s Word.
It is important to recognize both aspects. We are intended to walk daily with the Holy Spirit upon our life and filling our mouth with God’s Word. This daily communion with the Spirit and this daily filling of our heart and mind with God’s thoughts and decrees is a promise that God has made available for us. So the question is, “Are you spiritually a descendant of those who believed on Jesus, and if so, are you walking in harmony with God’s Spirit?” May God help us to reject this world’s encouragement to pursue the things of the flesh and thereby losing the precious communion and empowering that He has for us.
Not only would the Spirit be in their life, but it would not be a momentary thing. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit only came upon certain individuals and only at certain times. Thus the Holy Spirit’s presence was an uncommon event that came upon uncommon people at uncommon times. This promise is that the Holy Spirit would become the common experience of the common, righteous person, without end. It is this promise that enables us to live in a world surrounded by the unrighteous (both spiritual and natural), wrestle with our internal, fleshly nature, and be victorious. Jesus not only overcame the world, but He enables us to overcome the world. By the Holy Spirit we can go into our heart and mind and recognize the areas that need to be let go and the areas that need to be built up. He can free us even from that inner unrighteousness that seeks to overcome us. In Christ we are more than victorious over our own sin-problem. We are enabled to be rescuers of others. Let’s ask God for this promise each and every day. Let’s seek the help of the Holy Spirit for our battles both internal and external.