By Herbert E. Douglass
A Commentary on the Sabbath School Lesson for June 12–18, 2004, on Isaiah 59–61
Isaiah’s primary mission is to communicate what God has revealed to him about what he has on his mind. What does Isaiah 59–61 tell us about God and his desires for Israel and for everyone else who wants to stay in the path of truth?
Isaiah 59 is a blockbuster eye-opener! I almost freeze in place whenever I read it! Talk about divine indictment, open confession, and our Lord’s promise to do something about all this!
From the first verse on, God is responding to a people who had spiritual amnesia for far too long. After several centuries of being acculturated by their contemporaries, their God was getting smaller and smaller. He either was not big enough to change their dire conditions or didn’t really care. So, God decided they needed to get all this straight: "Jehovah’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save"—like other gods that are worshiped all around you!
Then God clarified the problem: sin causes a breach but God does not back off, the sinner does. Then God puts up a mirror to Deuteronomy 28 and tells Israel to have an honest look. Compromise after compromise, decade after decade, and eventually a whole church forgot its roots. They had become accustomed to trusting in their "empty words" and forgot the formula for "the way of peace." They enjoyed "crooked paths" and saw no danger.
But there was still the remnant that heard God’s indictment. "You are right, Lord, justice is far from us, we keep coming up with slogans that sound just right but it is nothing more than groping "for the way like the blind…as if we had no eyes." It is hard to admit, Lord, but "truth is fallen in the streets…truth fails," and we got used to it!
Jehovah responds, not as a cool grandfather or a political answer-man, but as earth’s Sovereign who will judge righteously, honoring the suppliant rebel and letting the proud sink in the consequences of disloyalty. Everyone will be judged by their deeds—the fairness of divine integrity can do nothing more or differently.
In Isaiah 61, we hear again that doleful forecast: there will be a "day of vengeance." Jesus omitted that line when he used these verses to describe his earthly mission (Luke 4:18, 19). But he often kept the Day in view throughout his ministry. How God really feels about that Day is revealed in Matthew 23:37–38. It will be the most solemn day in the history of the universe when God says "Good-bye" to his persistently stubborn children.
I find it fascinating how God keeps the minds of inquiring people focused on how much he longs to do for them, not only on what happens if they turn their backs on him. In one sense, the historical target paints the glorious future for a repentant Israel; in another, we get the drama of what God’s people will some day do for him, finally.
Hard to think about it, but we are looking back on what Israel’s destiny could have been, the window of light through which the glory of God would shine and captivate the world of Gentiles. All this is very sad. All this is still sad when we think of many times Christians could have fulfilled God’s plan in making them a window of light on truths that matter most. That plan still waits for its fulfillment. That plan encapsulates the reason why Seventh-day Adventists exist—a window of light for all those searching for truth in every church, in every religion, in every dark corner of Planet Earth.
The Lord seems to outrun language itself (Isaiah 60) in describing the future for those who are indeed windows of light, whose windows get even cleaner as the day of reckoning (Day of Vengeance) leans over the horizon.
Then Isaiah leaps into chapter 61. Here is God’s part for bringing light to our planet—he sends himself as Jesus to show us how to live that life that is a window of light, truth, beauty, and fairness. No other reason exists for Jesus to come to earth than to show us how God thinks about his rebelling children and how he promises to change them into loyal, joyful people who can be entrusted with eternal life.
Why do some people prefer to think of the Day of Vengeance in terms of bloody punishment from an offended God?
What would be an agenda for church leaders if the highest priority for all church activity and ministry were to be windows of light on the character of God?
Is there anything about the job description Jesus quoted in Luke 4 that would be inappropriate for those who want to walk as he walked?
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