 There’s a triple take on these verses in terms of what they mean for

them (Israel), the world and us. At the time that Isaiah was writing,

the nation was in a very bad predicament. Even to the point that the

nation had been taken, subsumed into the nation of Babylon. And the

people were praying and suffering and no doubt many losing hope and

patience with God in terms of their deliverance. “Why does God not

deliver? He must not be able. Maybe He’s not all powerful. Maybe

He’s not good…”

 One of the most memorable movie lines for me personally was the

line, “If God is all powerful, He must not be all good.” And that line

was when Superman was faced between choosing the life of his wife

or the life of his mother. The point in the movie was to destroy

Superman’s confidence by proving he was not all powerful. But that

really stuck with me… I had to face that with God…, because in a

way, it’s reasonable…

 If God is all powerful, He cannot be all good, because people suffer

and there is pain and there is crime and there is death and there is

disease. Maybe He’s not one of those…, (all powerful AND all good).

And I wrestled. Because I know the truth, I know that God IS good

and that God IS omnipotent…

 The truth is God is both. He is all powerful. He is (Biblical word for

that), sovereign. And He is all good. And those two together mean that

He must also be all faithful and all true. Which means, what He has

said, He must accomplish. Or He is not all good, all powerful, all

faithful and all true.

 And in His sovereignty, He decreed free will. Free will for man is

within His sovereignty. Not outside of it. And for free will to be free

will, (or what He decreed is false), for free will to be free will, then He

must allow things to transpire that He Himself hates because it is not

good, it is not of Him…, or HE HIMSELF is not good at all. So, God

is all powerful, He is all good, and there exists great evil in the world

today…, and not 1% of that evil is from Him AND YET HE

REMAINS all powerful!

 This first verse is a verse of hope for the people of Israel. That God

does see, He does hear, and He is working every angle possible to

bring about their deliverance within His own decree of free will upon

creation….

 AND, if you look at these verses through the lens of the world, world

history, world condition, world situation, this rings so close to home!

The world today is literally calling things that are bad, good…, and

things of God are being labeled as bad…, things of hate. There are

wars and news of wars, poverty, starving, suffering, selfishness is the

culture of the cosmos…, and the Bride of Christ calls out Maranatha!

 AND, for you, for me personally. It’s always too soon to stop hoping

in God and trusting Him at His word that He is not slack, He is not on

break, He is not taking a siesta…, but He is saving and hearing…, we

just don’t see it yet.

 I take the second perspective, the one of the condition of the world as

the most eye opening, eye widening take on this chapter…, check this

out…

Isaiah Chapter 59 Verses 2 – 8

 Is this not the exact, precise condition of this world? And perhaps

especially of the western culture which happens also to be the

pervasive culture in the nation of God, Israel (to whom this chapter

was written)!?

 Check this out…, and this is all over the place in the Body of Christ,

this is all over the place in marriages, this is all over the place in the

public, check this out…, No one pleads for truth (what is truth? Better

yet, WHO is Truth!?) No husband/wife stops the ridiculousness of

selfishidity (new word) and says, “Wait, what would Jesus have me to

do? No matter what, I’m going to do that!” No one leaving a church

says that… No one in the streets in the eye of the media is doing

THAT!

 Check this out, they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch

vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web… This is so interesting…, He

who eats of their eggs dies, and if you don’t eat them but seek to crush

them, a viper springs out and gets you! This is crazy on point and

indicative of classic self-serving and pride which always manifests in

deflection and defense. (To use some very popular conditions of today,

narcissism and gas lighting – this is EVERYWHERE)!

 If someone is in sin, acting like a jerk, being so selfish and you feed

into that, both of you become the same and you start a little self-

affirming self-serving club. A little viper club. You can’t serve God

and self because you will end up loving one and hating the other… So,

death in the spirit sets in, man! BUT…, if you stop them and call them

out and tell them they are harming, they either don’t care (hard-

hearted), they turn it around on you (but what about you), or they

straight up deny it!

 You try to crush their darkness with the truth. Hey, you’re being so

mean…, so selfish…, and the response you get is, “No I am not!” And

listen, you can do nothing with a person that denies their sin.

NOTHING. Might as well go talk to a wall. It’s so obvious what they

are doing, saying is so dark and wrong. Anyone would see it…, but

they won’t! These are the days that we live in…

 When Christian, those that follow Jesus or say you follow Jesus, when

someone says, “You’re hurting me,” the response should NEVER,

repeat NEVER be a defense or an excuse or a denial. The response

should always be CARE, understanding and humility. But this is NOT

the condition of the family today, the marriage today, the church today

and certainly not the world today! Please don’t let this childish,

immature, unwise and ungodly condition be YOU!

 Weaving webs of clothing to defend your hard-hearted condition and

God says that web will fail and ultimately you will degrade your own

heart to be so without peace that you’ve forgotten what life is like

when you are in fellowship with the Holy Spirit… Here’s what that

life looks and feels like and none of us want this…

Isaiah Chapter 59 Verses 9 – 12

 This is a description of the inward condition of a hard heart. It’s that

last verse that tells us that…, “our transgressions are with us, and our

iniquities, we know them.” That is a clear statement of zero

repentance. Repentance is not a word that means you have lost. You’re

abdicating. You’ve relinquished or yielded or resigned or stepped

down from your position and in that proved someone else right.

Repentance is you taking back the control that you’ve lost. It is to

make a personal decision to personally progress and improve…

 Being hard hearted and knowing things about me that need to be

addressed and yet just going on with life is actually me saying no to

the things that I want the most. First of all, as a Christian, what I want

the most is to glorify God. For all He is and all He has done. For the

kingdom to come which I am a citizen of and for the love that is mine

through the sacrifice of Jesus.

 AND, justice. To sense that I and the world is just. Righteousness. To

sense that I and the world, the understanding of all things rings right in

my mind and heart. Light, brightness, walls…, structure and things

that create ordinance in my mind, heart and life. Stability is what is

meant by walls…, and knowing which things are walls and which are

doors so I don’t waste my time and get all frustrated trying to open

walls!

 Sight…, stabilized life (as opposed to stumbling), life in abundant

places…, just like Jesus said in John 10:10. Rejoicing and gladness in

the place of growling and sorrow. Ultimately living in a state of

salvation, day to day and with the hope of eternity. What is required of

me for all this? So simple. Remain teachable, correctable, and

honorable enough to address my own issues of the heart…