Day 212 – Isaiah 59-63

Talking Points

• These chapters in Isaiah present a beautiful picture of the gospel of our salvation. God is our Savior — truly mighty to save. While we stand separated, condemned in our sin, His gospel reaches down.
• In order to understand and receive the gospel, we must possess a firm understanding of sin and its consequence. Modern attempts to overlook or negate sin actually rob the gospel of its power and God of His glory as the gracious Remedy for sinners. Sin without a remedy ends with sinners without a hope. In Jesus Christ, we find both!

• Isaiah contrasts what days of captivity and devastation will be like with what will happen when God restores it all, when “the days of…mourning will be finished” (60:20).
• Isaiah 61 — wow! Seven hundred years before Jesus, Isaiah foretells the ministry of the Messiah. He will bring good news and save the brokenhearted. He will set the captives free and comfort those who mourn. In Luke chapter 4, Jesus takes up the scroll of this very scripture, reads it aloud, and declares, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing“(Luke 4:21). Can you even imagine? Jesus says, “I am the one! Your hope is here with you!”
  
  Also, be sure of the potential danger when we look to anyone but Jesus the Nazarene to carry out the Messiah’s ministry. Isaiah 61 is not the role of the church or the ministry of the saved. Our job is to point to the One Isaiah pointed to — Jesus!

Thoughts

“…the LORD saw…” (Isaiah 59:15). In chapter 59, there is an explanation of just how sinful Israel had become, with no justice, righteousness, or truth to be found. Those who do try to live upright lives become prey for everyone else — walking convictions who were harassed and persecuted.

And God saw it all. He saw each sinful heart. He saw each lie. Each injustice. Each murder. Each evil. “…the LORD saw, And it was displeasing in His sight…” (59:15).

Then, He was moved with compassion we cannot fathom. “He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him… A Redeemer will come…” (59:16-20).

Praise God who sees, who is compassionate, and whose “hand is not so short That it cannot save” (59:1). He came.