Hi everyone. We're going to read from Isaiah chapter 59 verses 1 to 20.
Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.
But your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt,
your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things.
No one calls for justice. No one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and
speak lies. They conceive trouble and give birth to evil. They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin
a spider's web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched.
Their cobwebs are useless for clothing. They cannot cover themselves with what they make.
Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rush into sin.
They are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts. Ruin and destruction
mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know. There is no justice in their paths.
They have turned them into crooked roads. No one who walks in them will know peace.
So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness.
For brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. Like the blind, we grope along the wall,
feeling our way like men without eyes. At midday, we stumble as if it were twilight.
Among the strong, we are like the dead. We all growl like bears. We moan mournfully like doves.
We look for justice, but find none. For deliverance, but it is far away.
For our offences are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us.
Our offences are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities.
Rebellion and treachery against our Lord, turning our backs on our God.
Fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived.
So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance.
Truth has stumbled in the streets.
Honesty cannot enter.
Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.
The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no one.
He was appalled that there was no one to intervene.
So his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.
He put on righteousness as his breastplate and the helmet of salvation on his head.
He put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
According to what they have done, so will he repay.
Wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes.
He will repay the islands their due.
From the west, men will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory.
For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along.
The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins, declares the Lord.
This is the word of the Lord.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Martin.
If you still have your Bibles open at Isaiah chapter 59, keep them open there.
We'll be going to Isaiah 58 and 59 towards the end of my talk.
And the passages we'll be looking at before then will mostly come up on the screen.
So you can follow along on the screen for those.
We're looking this morning at the justice of God.
And if you have a bulletin, you'll see the outline there.
Really three main sections to this talk.
Justice as retribution, justice as right, and justice as restoration.
But let's commit our time together to the Lord.
Let's pray and ask for his help.
Heavenly Father, thank you that we can gather this morning and sing your praises.
You are worthy of all praise.
Father, we thank you that you speak to us in your word.
And we ask that as we meditate on it this morning, that you would move us, draw us into a deeper understanding of who you are,
your character, and all that you have done for our salvation.
We pray that our hearts will be uplifted this morning.
Please help me to speak clearly and faithfully as I ought.
And may you write your word on all of our hearts.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, I wonder what comes to mind when I say the phrase, the justice of God.
The justice of God.
God's justice.
Jesus.
I wonder if what first comes to mind for you, or maybe for some of us, is an image of God as a grim judge,
gavel in hand, ready to find people guilty, and to deliver a sentence.
I wonder if you picture God as judge when I speak about God's justice.
What comes to mind is God's judicial or legal justice, the justice of law courts, the justice of trial and punishment.
Is that what first comes to mind for you?
I know we discussed this at my Bible study group on Wednesday evening last week,
and for most of us, that was what first comes to mind.
The justice of God.
The judicial justice of God.
And we see this in the Bible.
So we see, for example, in Psalm 96,
God's justice is expressed in his act of judgment.
So Psalm 96 verse 13 says,
The Lord comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.
God's judgment, you see there in Psalm 96 verse 13, is universal in scope.
He judges the earth.
He judges the world, the peoples.
Everyone is facing the judgment of God.
And God's judgment is executed in perfect justice.
He judges in righteousness and in faithfulness.
If you read verse 13, which comes at the end of the psalm,
if you read that in context,
you'll recognize that the response of creation to God's act of judgment is one of jubilation.
You've got it there in verses 11 and 13.
The heavens are glad, the earth's rejoicing.
And 12, the trees of the forest are singing for joy because God comes to judge in righteousness.
I wonder, is that, as we think about God coming to judge the world in righteousness,
are we singing for joy with the trees of the forest?
My family, we live near a train line.
You can walk through our backyard, hop over the back fence and there's some bushland there.
And a short walk through the bushland will take you to the train line.
And it's a train line that carries those coal trains from the Hunter Valley to Newcastle and back again.
You know those coal trains, dozens and dozens of carriages laden with coal.
They bear down along that track with this unstoppable momentum.
And a short walk through the bush at the back of our place and there it is, the train line.
No fences.
No warning signs.
You just walk through the bush and hop onto the train line if you want to.
We've told our kids, never go on the train line.
Even if you can't see a train anywhere, even if you can't hear a train coming, don't walk on the train line.
Never go on the train line.
So you don't want to put yourself in the path of a Newcastle coal train.
And yet all people are in the path of the coming judgment of God.
God judges the world.
He judges the peoples.
All people are in the path of the coming judgment of God.
Our sin puts us on the train track.
And the Bible is very clear.
All have sinned.
There's no one righteous, not even one.
So when I think about God's judgment, I find it unnerving.
I find it unsettling.
Because God's judgment means retribution.
It means, that word, retribution, just means being paid back.
God's judgment means he pays back our sin.
He punishes our sin.
That idea of retribution is expressed in numerous passages in the Bible.
Here's one of them.
Romans 2, verses 5 and 6.
Because of your hard and impenitent, that's unrepentant, your hard and impenitent heart,
you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.
He will render to each one according to his works.
That's an uncomfortable thought.
Remember the criminal on the cross next to Jesus?
One criminal was mocking Jesus.
The other criminal said to the first criminal,
Don't you fear God?
Since you're under the same sentence of crucifixion,
and we justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds.
That criminal facing death, recognised he was receiving what his deeds deserved.
A just punishment for his sins.
When I think about the coal train of God's judgment,
I don't find myself easily singing for joy with the trees of the forest,
but rather trembling with the criminal on the cross.
Now last week, we were talking about the kindness of God.
And as we discussed the kindness of God,
we looked at a key moment of revelation in Exodus chapter 34,
when God reveals his name, his glory, his goodness, his character to Moses,
and thereby to Israel as well.
And we saw that God's revelation to Moses was of his kindness,
and I pointed to a magnificent trio of words that God is merciful,
that God is gracious, and that he's abounding in steadfast love.
That beautiful kindness of God.
But when we were looking at it last week,
we kind of cut God's revelation halfway through.
Because the latter part of God's self-revelation to Moses
concerns not his kindness, but his justice.
I'll read from Exodus 34 verses 6 and 7.
Then the Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed,
The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
See, there's the kindness of God.
But how does it continue?
But who will by no means clear the guilty,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the children
and the children's children
to the third and fourth generation.
Now, don't get hung up on the bit about children's children
to the third and fourth generation.
Basically, it's a dramatic way of expressing the idea
that God will completely punish sin.
The full punishment that sin deserves.
There's a terrible and tragic high-profile court case
in America at the moment.
Maybe you've been following this in the news
about a triple murder.
I won't say anything more about it than that.
But that court case has just ended in a mistrial.
The jury were unable to agree,
and so the judge dismissed them.
And the trial itself has been so widely publicised
that the prosecutors are saying,
well, a retrial may not be possible
because we don't actually know
whether we'd even be able to find 12 jurors
who are unacquainted with the case
who could sit in a jury.
But there are no mistrials with God.
Every verdict God delivers is true,
and every sentence of punishment
that he hands over is complete.
Sin is and will be punished to its full extent.
Now, Exodus 34 verses 6 and 7
leave a question hanging for us.
How do God's kindness
and God's justice work together?
How can God forgive iniquity, transgression and sin,
and yet also simultaneously
by no means clear the guilty?
I mean, aren't they contradictory?
How can he do both?
How can God be merciful
and just at the same time?
Now, that is absolutely the right question to ask.
It's the question that God's self-revelation to Moses
should lead us to ask.
And that is, of course, a question that leads us
into the meaning of the cross of Christ.
Now, we'll circle back to that later.
But I know that many of you
know your Bibles.
I know that most of us gathered here
have been well taught.
And for you,
what I have just raised
is a very familiar line of thought.
That line of thought
where we pose the question,
God, how can God be merciful
and just at the same time
and follow the logic through
to the answer God gives
in the cross of Christ
that's familiar to you?
We follow that question through
to, for example,
Romans chapter 3,
verses 21 to 26,
which Leon Morris called
possibly the most important
single paragraph ever written
about the justice of God
in Jesus dying
as a propitiation for our sins
so that God can be just
and the one who justifies
those who have faith in Jesus.
You know that.
That's a firmly embedded part
of your Christian framework
as it should be.
But I think there is one risk
that we have
as reformed evangelical Protestants.
And the risk is this,
that we can be so strong
on the legal, judicial,
retributive justice of God
that we might sometimes
slip into thinking
that when we've spoken
about God's judgment,
we've said all there is to say
about the justice of God.
Judgment and retribution
are what first come to mind
when we think of God's justice
and there's a risk
that our thoughts stop there
and go no further.
I want to suggest to you
that if they are the only thoughts
we have about God's justice,
then we'll actually end up
with the distorted picture
of who God is.
Because retributive justice
is only part
of what the Bible has to say
about the justice of God.
Indeed,
it's the smaller part.
It's a secondary
and derivative part.
Let me try and prove that to you.
I think I can ask you
one question
that will,
and you will immediately
recognise
that when it comes
to the justice of God,
judgement and retribution
are secondary,
not primary.
One question.
One question
and you'll see
that the punishment
for sin
is not really
at the heart
of God's justice.
Here's the question.
Would it still be true
that God himself
is righteous
and just
if Adam and Eve
had never sinned?
Let me make it
even clearer.
If not only humanity
but even the devil
and the devil's angels
had never fallen
into sin,
that is,
if all God's creatures
had remained
obedient to him,
if there was
no sin
to be punished,
could you still
say that God himself
is perfectly righteous
and perfectly just?
I mean,
sure,
that's a hypothetical
question
but do you see
the question?
I think you would
have to answer
that question
with a resounding
yes.
See,
look at
Deuteronomy
32 verse 3 to 4.
Now,
isn't it true
that all God's
ways are
justice
irrespective
of whether
there is
any sin
for God
to punish?
All
his ways
are justice.
Not just
the act
of retribution.
Everything
God does
is justice.
Or look
at Psalm 33
verses 4 and 5.
5.
For the word
of the Lord
is upright
and all
his work
is done
in faithfulness.
He loves
righteousness
and justice.
The earth
is full
of the
steadfast
love
of the
Lord.
Now,
in Exodus
34
verses 6
and 7,
we feel
a tension.
There's a tension
there in God's
revelation to Moses,
a tension
between
God's mercy
and his
justice,
his steadfast
love
in Exodus
34
and his
justice.
How can
God be
merciful and
just at the
same time?
But there's
no tension
in Psalm 33
verses 4 and
5
between
God's
righteousness
and justice
and steadfast
love.
There's no
tension there.
The next
verse
in the
Psalm,
the next
verse is
going to
talk about
God's
work of
creation
in language
that's very
reminiscent of
Genesis
chapter 1.
Faithfulness,
righteousness,
justice,
steadfast
love
characterise
all of
God's
work.
Now,
let me
pause here
to say
something
about
language
while we've
still got
those
verses
on the
screen.
Last
week,
when we
looked at
the
kindness
of
God,
I
pointed
to
that
magnificent
trio
of
words,
compassion,
grace,
steadfast
love.
This
week,
as we
consider the
justice
of God,
the two
key words
are those
I've
highlighted
there in
the first
line of
verse 5,
Psalm 33
verse 5,
righteousness
and justice.
The Hebrew
word for
righteousness is
the word
tzedakah,
which is
usually
translated as
righteousness.
The word
translated there
as justice
is the
word
mishpat,
which is
sometimes
or often
translated
as judgment.
Whenever in
English Bibles,
if ever in
the Old
Testament,
if you see
the word
justice in
English,
it's probably
translating a
form of
one of
those two
words,
tzedakah
or mishpat.
Mishpat.
But also,
those two
words are
often paired
together,
righteousness
and justice.
They're brought
together.
There are other
words that are
linked to them
at times,
like uprightness,
which you can
see there in
the first line
of verse 4,
truth.
The word
faithfulness there
in the second
line of verse 4,
that's often
grouped with
the justice
words or
with the
kindness
words,
because God
is always,
he's faithfully,
he's consistently
who he is,
unfailingly
so.
But when we
get those
two words
together,
righteousness
and justice,
tzedakah
and mishpat,
that justice
duo,
that's talking
about the
justice of
God in
some form.
And Psalm
33 verse 5
says that
God loves,
he loves
righteousness
and justice.
He delights
in it.
He is
absolutely
committed
to what
is
right.
Here's
another
example,
Psalm 89
verse 14,
righteousness
and justice
are the
foundation
of his
throne,
of your
throne.
Steadfast
love and
faithfulness
go before
you.
God's
rule as
the divine
king,
the ruler
overall,
is founded
on what
is right.
And what
is right
is ultimately
determined by
who God
himself is,
by God's
own character.
So the
reason we
live in a
universe where
kindness is
right and
cruelty is
wrong is
because God
himself is
kind.
God defines
what is
right.
So the
deepest sense
of justice
in the
Bible is
justice as
right.
God
is
a
basis for
morality.
There
is absolute
goodness.
There is a
way things
are supposed
to be.
And that
way the
Bible calls
justice and
righteousness.
Good is
more
substantial
than
evil.
Good is
more real
than
evil.
Good is
eternal.
Evil is
temporary.
Good is
in its
own right
because God
is good.
Evil is
parasitic.
It can only
ever occur as
a corruption
of what is
good.
And
justice as
right is
more essential
than justice
as judgment.
judgment.
To quote
Christian
ethicist
Oliver O'Donovan,
justice as
right is a
presupposition
of justice
as judgment.
You can see
that,
can't you?
Justice as
right is a
presupposition
of justice
as judgment.
In other
words,
you can only
engage in
an act of
judgment
if there
is right
that is the
basis of
your judgment.
judgment.
If there's
no right,
there can
be no
judgment.
If there's
no law,
there can
be no
law courts.
In one
sense,
judgment
only becomes
necessary when
there's been
transgression,
when there's a
deviation from
what's right.
justice as
right is
general
justice.
Justice as
right is
what God
always is
and what
God does
all the
time.
Justice as
judgment is
special justice.
It's a tool
which God
picks up and
puts down
again.
Now,
we've already
seen that
justice in
the sense
of right,
capital R
right,
is an
attribute of
God himself.
That what
defines right
is the
character of
God.
And I
think this
is important
to grasp,
right,
this point I'm
making,
so that we
have fitting
thoughts about
God and
his justice.
God's
positive
justice
precedes
his negative
justice.
Yes,
God's
justice
means that
he's
determined
to punish
sin.
But God's
justice means
he's determined
to punish
sin because
God's justice
means that
he is
absolutely,
fundamentally,
immutably
committed to
what is
right,
to what is
good.
He is
just,
he does
justice,
he establishes
justice,
justice.
And his
act of
judgment is
one move
God makes
in establishing
justice.
Let me say
four more
things about
justice as
right.
I'll try and
say these
quite quickly
and then we'll
move on to the
third point,
justice as
restoration.
Let me say
four more
things about
justice as
right.
First,
justice as
right is
imprinted on
creation.
It's imprinted
on creation.
Now,
God in his
freedom,
he has
made things
a particular
way.
There is a
natural order
to what God
has made.
Some things
are right
purely because
of who God
is,
and it's
hard to
imagine that
they could
possibly be
different.
God being
who he is,
they couldn't
be otherwise.
Speaking the
truth is
right,
and lying
is not
right because
God is
true.
As I said
earlier,
kindness is
right and
cruelty is
not right
because God
is kind,
because of
who God
is.
But there
are other
things that
could have
been different
if God
had made
the world
a different
way.
Like a
composer
writing music,
God has
made the
creation the
way he
wanted it
to be,
but he
was free
to make
it however
he liked
in accordance
with his
character.
If you
take a
piece of
music,
say Beethoven's
Fifth
Symphony,
Beethoven
could have
chosen
different
notes.
He could
have
arranged
the
various
parts
differently,
but he
wrote it a
certain way.
He wrote it
the way he
wanted it
to be,
according to
his freedom
as a
composer.
If you
are now
part of
an orchestra
that is
playing
Beethoven's
Fifth
Symphony,
you don't
have the
same
freedom
that
Beethoven
had.
There is
a way it
is supposed
to be.
If you
play different
notes,
then you're
playing the
wrong
notes.
As a
member of
an orchestra,
you don't
have the
composer's
freedom.
As
creatures in
God's
creation,
we don't
have the
creator's
freedom.
With
justice,
the way
things are
supposed to
be in
this world
is determined
both by
God's
immutable
character,
but also
just by
the way
he's
made
the
world,
by God's
creative
freedom.
For
example,
God
gives
animate
creatures,
humans and
animals,
he gives
us,
in
Genesis
chapter 1,
plants and
fruit trees
as food.
The way
things are
supposed to
be,
if you
read
Genesis
chapters 1
and 2,
is that
vegetation,
the plants
and fruit
trees,
are supposed
to produce
enough food
to sustain
animal and
human life.
Now,
that's
expanded to
where God
permits,
I'll get to
that in a
moment.
So,
they produce
enough food
to sustain
animal and
human life.
So,
where there's
a drought
and the
crops fail
and the
fruit trees
perish,
when there's
a drought
and creatures
die because
of insufficient
food,
that's not
the way
things are
meant to
be.
God,
after the
flood,
permits
humans to
kill and
eat animals,
but God
does not
permit animals
to kill and
eat humans.
God says,
you know,
he says that
animals,
the blood of
humans will be
required of
them because
humans are
made in the
image of
God.
So,
there's an
order.
Humans are
placed over
animals and
humans can
eat animals,
but animals
can't eat
humans.
There's a way
things are
supposed to
be.
For us,
right,
the way
things are
supposed to
be is
determined
both by
who God
is and
also by
the natural
order of
the creation
which he's
established.
That's the
first thing.
Second thing
about justice
is right is
revealed to
us.
Psalm 119
is a lengthy
song and
one of the
main themes
is the
excellence of
God's word,
his law.
And a number
of times the
psalmist combines
that justice
word pair,
mishpat and
tzedek,
form of the
righteousness
word,
in an expression
for God's
word.
So to give you
a couple of
examples,
Psalm 119
verse 7,
I'll praise you
with an upright
heart when I
learn your
righteous rules.
When I learn
your righteous
rules is
literally when I
learn the
judgments of
your righteousness,
that justice
word pair.
Or Psalm 119
verse 60,
the sum of
your word is
truth and
every judgment
of your
righteousness
endures
forever.
God's revealed
word encapsulates
his justice.
He's made his
justice, his
righteousness known
to us.
Proverbs makes a
similar point about
wisdom.
In Proverbs
chapter 1
verses 1 to 3,
the Proverbs of
Solomon, son of
David, king of
Israel, to know
wisdom and
instruction, to
understand words
of insight, to
receive instruction
in wise dealing,
in righteousness,
justice, and
equity.
That's the
uprightness word,
that last one
there.
Justice is
revealed to us,
thirdly, so that
we can do it.
Justice as right
is required of
us.
So Proverbs
21 verse 3,
to do righteousness
and justice is
more acceptable to
the Lord than
sacrifice.
Or a famous
passage from
Amos, Amos 5
verse 22 to
24, even
though you
offer me your
burnt offerings
and grain
offerings, I
will not accept
them, and the
peace offerings of
your fattened
animals, I will
not look upon
them, take away
from me the
noise of your
songs, to the
melody of your
harps, I will
not listen, but
let justice roll
down like waters
and righteousness
like an ever
flowing stream.
What's God
saying to the
people through
the prophet
Amos?
Religion
without justice
is empty.
Let justice
roll down like
waters and
righteousness like
an ever
flowing stream.
God requires
justice of
us.
The fourth
thing to say
is that the
right that God
requires of us
includes the
kind of right
that's needed
when things
have gone
wrong.
Let me say
that again.
The right God
requires of us
includes the
kind of right
that is needed
when things have
gone wrong.
So now we're
going to finally
get to Isaiah
chapters 58 and
59.
Have a look at
this with me.
Isaiah chapter
58 verses 1 and
2.
Let me just,
we're going to
get a little bit
of context here.
Isaiah 58
verses 1 and
2.
Cry aloud,
do not hold
back, lift up
your voice like
a trumpet,
declare to my
people their
transgression,
to the house of
Jacob their
sins.
Yet they seek
me daily and
delight to know
my ways, as if
they were a
nation that did
righteousness and
did not forsake
the judgment of
their God.
They ask of me
righteous judgments
and they delight to
draw near to God.
Can you see that
justice word pair
there in verse 2?
Israel are seeking
God, they're
praying to him,
they're engaging in
religion or Judah
rather, trying to
draw near to God,
as if they actually
were people who did
righteousness and
didn't forsake
justice.
This is a chapter,
Isaiah 58 is a
chapter about Judah's
failure to do
righteousness and
justice.
They're asking God
to do justice but
they're failing to do
it themselves.
Now how have they
been failing to do
justice?
Well it's both in
what they've done and
in what they've failed
to done.
They've committed sins
of commission and
sins of omission.
So in what they did,
look at verse 3 and
4.
Why have we fasted,
they ask, and you
not seen it?
Why have we humbled
ourselves and you take
no knowledge of it?
Why aren't you
listening to our
prayers, God?
Here's God's answer.
Behold, in the day of
your fast, you seek
your own pleasure and
oppress all your
workers.
Behold, you fast only
to quarrel and to fight
and to hit with a
wicked fist.
Fasting like this day
will not make your
voice to be heard on
high.
See, there's their
sins of commission,
oppression, fighting,
quarrelling, violence.
That's how they're
failing in justice.
But they're also
failing by what they
did not do, their
sins of omission.
Look down at verse
6.
Is not this the fast I
choose?
To loose the bonds of
wickedness?
To undo the straps of
the yoke?
To let the oppressed go
free and to break every
yoke?
Is it not to share your
bread with the hungry and
to bring the homeless
poor into your house?
When you see the naked
to cover him and not to
hide yourself from your
own flesh?
Then shall your light
break forth like the
dawn and your healing
shall spring up speedily.
And your righteousness
shall go before you.
The glory of the Lord
shall be your rear guard.
We could go on.
Verse 10.
Or verse 9.
If you take away the
yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the
finger and speaking
wickedness, if you
pour yourself out for
the hungry and satisfy
the desire of the
afflicted, then shall
your light rise in the
darkness and your gloom
be as the noonday.
What is the justice God
wants of us?
Well, it includes the
kind of right that's
needed when things have
gone wrong.
We've seen justice as
retribution, the
punishment for evil.
We've seen justice as
right, the way things
ought to be.
Now we're beginning to
see a third form of
justice, justice as
restoration.
Restoration, like
retribution, presupposes
right, that there is a
way things are supposed
to be.
And it presupposes that
things have gone off
track.
In a world where things
are not as they are
supposed to be, God
wants his people to be
agents of restoration.
In a world that's
haywire because of sin,
where there's misery and
grief and suffering, God
wants his people to bring
relief.
It is right that people
are free from tyranny and
oppression.
And so God calls on us to
loose the bonds of
wickedness and to break
every yoke.
It is right when all have
enough to eat.
And so God calls on us to
share our food with the
hungry.
It is right when we all,
all of us have secure
shelter, somewhere to live.
And so God calls on his
people to bring the
homeless into their
houses, to clothe the
naked.
Verse 7, not hide
yourself from your own
flesh.
How can we look on another
human being who's
suffering, our own flesh
and blood made in God's
image, and turn away from
their need?
But of course the point of
Isaiah 58 and 59 is that
that's what humanity have
done.
I mean these words are
written to Judah,
particularly in Isaiah's
day, the 8th century BC,
but they're equally true of
us, of all, of all
humanity.
The consequences of our
failure to do justice and
righteousness are twofold.
Firstly, there's a
separation between God and
us.
Chapter 59, verse 1,
verse 2, your iniquities
have made a separation
between you and your God
and your sins have hidden
his face from you so that
he does not hear.
We're cut off from God.
Second consequences is that
there's the breakdown of
society and community life.
Verse 4, no one enters
suit justly, no one goes to
law honestly.
This is chapter 59.
They rely on empty pleas,
they speak lies, they
conceive mischief and give
birth to iniquity.
No justice breaks down in
society.
Verse 7, their feet run to
evil, they're swift to shed
innocent blood, their
thoughts are thoughts of
iniquity.
Desolation and destruction
are in their highways.
The way of peace they do not
know.
There's no justice in their
paths.
They've made their roads
crooked.
No one who treads on them
knows peace.
Therefore, justice is far from
us and righteousness does not
overtake us.
We hope for light and behold
darkness and for brightness,
but we walk in gloom.
Isaiah 59 verse 14, justice
is turned back and righteousness
stands far away.
For truth has stumbled in the
public squares and uprightness
cannot enter.
Truth is lacking and he who
departs from evil makes himself
a prey.
And those last few verses
sound familiar, don't they?
Truth has stumbled in the
public squares, he who departs
from evil makes himself a prey.
Just think of the number of
lies and falsehoods that are
trumpeted in the media and in
parliament and in the public
squares of our society.
Try to defend in public the
truth that an unborn baby is a
human being and they will come
for you.
But what I want you to see is
God's response.
Look at Isaiah 59 verse 15,
second half.
The Lord saw it and it
displeased him.
It displeased him that there was
no justice.
So what would God do?
Verse 16.
He saw that there was no man and
wondered that there was no one to
intercede.
Then his own arm brought salvation
and his righteousness upheld him.
He put on righteousness as a
breastplate and a helmet of
salvation on his head.
He put on garments of vengeance for
clothing and wrapped himself in
zeal as a cloak.
According to their deeds,
so will he repay.
Wrath to his adversaries,
repayment to his enemies,
to the coastlands he will render
repayment, so they shall fear the
name of the Lord from the west and
his glory from the rising of the
sun, for he will come like a
rushing stream which the wind of
the Lord drives.
And our redeemer will come to
Zion, to those in Jacob who turn
from transgression declares the
Lord.
What would God do when he's
displeased that there is no
justice in our world?
He takes justice into his own
hands.
He clothes himself, he arms himself
to bring justice.
Notice there in verse 17, 16 and
17, that righteousness, one of
those justice words, righteousness and
salvation are basically used there
synonymously.
God's bringing of justice is his
bringing of salvation.
It includes retribution in verse 18,
the repayment of sin.
But the goal is restoration.
It's verse 19, that people will again
fear the name of the Lord.
Verse 20, that people will turn from
their iniquities, from transgression,
redemption.
Can you see God's love for justice,
God's commitment to justice, is more
than a commitment to punish evil.
It's a commitment to restore what is
right, to bring about what is good.
God's love for justice is not satisfied
only by his negative justice, by
retribution.
God's love for justice is manifest in
his desire for positive justice, for
restoration, for setting, restoring
everything to be as it should be.
No more oppression.
No more deceit.
No more malice or hunger or poverty or
malnutrition or addiction or sickness or
death.
God restoring things as they should be.
That's the justice God takes on himself
because there's no one else to do it.
How does God do this?
Verse 20, a redeemer will come to Zion.
We know who that redeemer is.
Turn back with me to Isaiah chapter 42.
We're going to finish with this passage
here, Isaiah chapter 42.
Another passage which speaks about how
God brings justice.
Speaking, as Isaiah does in a number of
passages, of God's servant.
Again, we know who God's servant is.
Isaiah 42, verse 1 to 4.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my
chosen, in whom my soul delights.
I have put my spirit upon him.
He will bring forth justice to the
nations.
He will not cry aloud or lift up his
voice or make it heard in the street.
A bruised reed he will not break.
And a faintly burning wick he will not
quench.
He will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow faint or be discouraged till
he has established justice in the earth and the
coastlands wait for his law.
I mean, how does Jesus, God's servant,
bring forth justice?
He does it in such a way as to care for the very,
very weakest.
Not breaking the bruised reed.
Not snuffing out the smouldering wick.
Matthew chapter 12 quotes these four verses of
Isaiah about Jesus.
And in context, we read in Matthew 12, many
followed him and he healed all of them.
This was to fulfil what was spoken by the
prophet Isaiah.
And then this passage, Isaiah 42, 1 to 4.
See, Jesus' healing miracles were a sign of what
he was doing.
The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear,
the dead are raised, lepers are cleansed.
What was Jesus doing?
He was restoring what was right.
He was restoring creation to the way it's meant to be.
How did Jesus bring forth justice?
He perfectly lived justice as right.
He absorbed in himself justice as retribution.
He brings to victory justice as restoration.
Praise be to God.
Please may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may