There is something “climatic” happening here, at the end of Isaiah chapter 59. Another Bible Account of the salvation of Israel, a miraculous Event indeed!

“18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence. 19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. 20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. 21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.” Isaiah 59:18-21, where I have left the verse numbers in place for a reason, for clarity.

Some day (at the end of the Tribulation) Israel’s enemies will meet the final, furious (yet Holy) Wrath of Almighty God! Verse 18 … “According to their deeds, accordingly He (God) will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompence to His enemies; to the islands He will repay recompence.” For God it is now “pay-back” Time. Note that Israel’s enemies are now God’s enemies too!

And when God’s people see this … such Deliverance … as a consequence: “So shall they (Israel) fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun.” Verse 19a … Salvation has come! “Fearing God’s Name” is an Old Testament way of saying … “Trusting our Lord.” This is the very Moment of which Paul the Apostle spoke long ago … “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” Romans 11:26

Then back to the Battle (Armageddon) for a Line of Scripture: “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” The Holy Ghost as Warrior! That Hebrew noun for “standard” (spelled “nus”) means (at its root) “to make to flee!” Routing these Jew haters! Death to multitudes!

Now verse 20 … you till me. Is this salvation, or not, national salvation? “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.” The “Redeemer” is Jesus! “Turning from transgression” is an example of old-fashioned repentance, too!

We’ve just read Isaiah’s Rendition (one of them) of the Second Coming of Jesus to earth! As is more fully described in Revelation 19:11-21.

And this coming salvation for God’s “chosen nation” is ETERNAL! Verse 21 proves such. “As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.”

Talk about Revival!

No wonder they sing … “Some golden daybreak, Jesus will come!”

Perpetual redemption!

And tomorrow’s chapter (Isaiah 60) will even more gloriously tell the Story! After this Momentous Salvation Experience … “better days ahead” for the little nation Zechariah calls “the apple of God’s Eye!”

Join us in the morning!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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It is one of the most startling things Isaiah ever said, in a way. Just a clause from a single verse, too!

“Truth is fallen in the street.” Isaiah 59:14c

In fact, we live in a world today that even denies the existence of truth!

It is, anymore, sort of a self-defined thing. Or so they’re telling us down at the University!

Truth, as a concrete and absolute and eternal Entity … has indeed “fallen” in America. Even in places of leadership, so-called.

In Hebrew, “truth” is spelled “emeth.” It means “that which is firm, faithful, reliable, established,” and most importantly, “right” in the Eyes of God!

The verb “is fallen” (spelled “kashal”) means “to stumble, stagger, fall down, become feeble, be overthrown,” or even “decay.”

And the phrase “in the street” suggests this murder has occurred in the public places of a society. No longer is this travesty reserved for “closed door” situations! This denial of truth has indeed come “out of the closet.”

Nowadays a person has the “right” to decide if he (or she) is a girl (or a boy)! Or decide if the unborn baby is a “real” person or not, perhaps just a blob of tissue!

Yes, truth has fallen in America!

But, wait a minute.

What does the Bible say about truth?

Jesus claimed one day, praying to His Father as He did so … “THY WORD IS TRUTH!” (John 17:17)

Actually our Lord claimed even more than that! Him again, preaching: “Jesus saith unto him, I AM the way, THE TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

Wow!

In Psalm 119:43 the Scripture we hold so dear is unashamedly called “the Word of Truth!”

Later that great chapter proclaims: “Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.” (Verse 151)

According to Psalm 138:2, TRUTH BELONGS TO GOD. “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for THY TRUTH.”

Yes, truth may be fallen in the street … but I am going to keep a place for it in my heart!

I am going to still take God’s Word and God’s Son and God’s Ways as absolute Truth!

By the way, the Holy Spirit Who inhabits every single Christian … is Biblically called “The Spirit of TRUTH!”  (John 15:26)

Let Jesus speak one more time this morning: “Nevertheless I tell you the TRUTH ….”  (John 16:7)

Or … “If it were not so, I would have told you!” (John 14:2)

That’s good enough for me!

I will build my life around the Revelation of God’s Truth … the precious Word of God!

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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It is often the “missing” element in today’s ecumenical scene, at least in the West (including the United States). The two-word Title to today’s Lesson: “BOLD PREACHING!”

Notice I did not necessarily say “mean Preaching!” But I am talking about preaching (what Paul the Apostle called) “all the Counsel of God!” (Acts 20:27)

Yes, the whole Bible, as in “Preach the WORD; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” (2 Timothy 4:2)

Not just the “sweet” Spots … the entire Word of God!

Now to today’s Text, Isaiah’s bold proclamation: “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2

God’s “Hand” is a symbol of His Might, His Power, “omnipotence” it is often called.

And It is “NOT shortened!” (Meaning “discouraged” once in the King James Bible!)

He can still “save,” in Hebrew “yasha,” meaning “to serve as Saviour, Deliverer, Avenger, Deliverer!”

His “Ear,” too, is “NOT heavy!”

He can still “hear,” using “shama,” meaning “to listen, to discern” or even “to understand.”

He can still answer prayer!

Then the Text takes an abrupt turn!

BUT … “your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”

Here things (during at least part of Isaiah’s Ministry) would have become tense!

Again I observe, “bold preaching!”

“Iniquities” translates the Hebrew noun “avon,” suggesting activities that are “bent, perverted, distorted” in the Eyes of God! Doing things opposite of God’s Way! (“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Proverbs 14:12 and again word for word in Proverbs 16:25.)

Perverted things like worshipping idols instead of the living God! Perverted things like sacrificing precious boys and girls to some false goddess. (Seems like the innocent little babies always suffer in an extremely wicked age!)

The verb “separated” (in Hebrew “badal,” used only 42 times in the entire Bible) means “to sever, to divide,” or even at times “to withdraw from” Someone! (This is here a participle, indicating an on-going action, a habit or lifestyle.)

Then (parallel to the just used word “iniquities”) “sins” (the much more common “chattaah,” used 296 times in the Old Testament), is derived from a verb meaning “to miss the right way,” to fail to receive/enjoy what God originally intended for you!

Wow! Then, sins are robbers!

But watch what these “sins” have done. They “have hid His Face (the Lord’s Face) from you, that he will not hear.”

Bible proof here … our sins affect God’s Ears, in essence blocking our prayers!

Remember Peter’s admonition? “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; THAT YOUR PRAYERS BE NOT HINDERED.” (1 Peter 3:7, where “hindered” is a Greek verb meaning “to cut off!”)

Yes, Isaiah, you are a bold Preacher, Prophet!

And we Christians are spiritually richer because this Preacher’s “66 Chapters” are in the Bible, in the Word of God!

I know I say this often, but these two verses would make a great memory project for some aspiring Bible student!

“Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Let me first mention the fact that our chapter discusses the spiritual discipline of “fasting.” But the material is somewhat lengthy and culminates in today’s verse anyway. The Jews had been fasting “for show,” it seems. Without any spiritual reality to buttress their actions. That’s called “hypocrisy.”

So the Lord calls them back to holy living, to obedience to the Word of God. And IF they properly respond … in a word “repent,” they would (a guarantee) experience “revival!”

Look what God promises: “And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” Isaiah 58:11

Wow!

God’s Guidance is wonderful, but “continual” Guidance, out-of-this-world! The verb “shall guide” means “to lead,” but also can mean “to govern.” Implying that if we commit to His Guidance … He expects us to follow, to yield to His Hand!

Notice here too He does NOT promise “drought” (a word meaning “scorched, dried”) would never come. But apparently it would be temporary! And that He, the Lord, would be “with” us through that hard time! And that He would “satisfy” us during the dearth! “Satisfy” (in Hebrew “saba”) means “to fill” to the limit.

The clause “make fat thy bones” suggests abundant “blessing,” even “prosperity” … through and through, “to one’s very bones!”

Then, in non-drought language for sure … God will make His obedient child “like a watered garden.” The adjective means “soaked!” And “garden” is derived from a verb meaning a “covered, surrounded, protected” place!

This is amazing, “under His Wings” (Psalm 91:1), “in His Garden,” even “on His Mind!”

But now the metaphors get even stronger!

Again our verse … “Thou shalt be … like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” Sounds a lot like Jesus’ Promise to the “woman at the well” in John 4 … “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the Gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee LIVING WATER.” A whole well full of it!

When waters are said not to “fail,” the verb “kazab” means “to become empty,” or at times “to lie.”

The “Water” of the Word, maybe. Quoting the Apostle Paul’s term from Ephesians 5:26 … “The washing of water by the Word,” the Bible!

An inexhaustible Supply!

Or maybe here the water of the Holy Spirit is indicated. “He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of LIVING WATER. But this spake He of the Spirit.” John 7:38-39

What a litany of Promises today … from a single verse in Isaiah chapter 58, but Promises based on an obedient lifestyle!

“And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”

A good verse to memorize!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Notice Isaiah 58:1 with me today.

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” What a verse!

Two strong, imperative verbs front this divinely inspired Sentence. “Cry” translates “qara,” meaning “to loudly proclaim.” (It is used in one form or another 735 times in the Old Testament!)

The modifier “aloud” utilizes “garon” in Hebrew, “from the throat!” This is energetic (if not boisterous) preaching! Guttural!

“Spare (not)” employs the verb “chasak.” as in … “do not withhold a word!” Do not refrain! Do not forbear!

The “trumpet” again emphasizes a distinct (strongly audible) sound! In Hebrew “shofar” means a “horn,” as in a “ram’s horn.”

Listen to God’s Pathos here … “Show My people!” Though Israel has sinned egregiously … she is still God’s little Nation! He yet claims her as His very Own!

But … show them what?

Their “pasha,” their “transgression”(singular here). A word specifically meaning “rebellion.” Utter revolt against God!

Then “My people” (the phrase) is balanced (Hebrew parallelism) with the string “the house of Jacob.” (Obviously now combining the southern and northern Kingdoms once again!)

The last word in the verse is “sins” (but plural this time). It means “missing the mark, taking the wrong road.” It also means “to lose out on what was originally intended to be yours!” Sin always robs … and kills!

This verse constitutes God’s Call, Commission to His Spokesman in any dark day, any sinful time!

And it is our “charge” yet today, in this age of apostasy!

To every Preacher who studies these pages day by day, you dear men of God … I would suggest memorizing today’s Text. Use it as a “check and balance” system to gauge your ministry, your preaching.

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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