Context for Isaiah 59
Th[e] righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:22-24 NIV
Reading these verses, we are inclined to focus on what God tells Judah- really all mankind- they are doing wrong. Verses 1-8 are a powerful indictment of our incapacity to do anything right. The simple truth we see here is that we cannot adhere to God’s righteousness.
What we miss in these verses is God’s promise to us. Starting with verse 16 and to the end of the chapter, God tells us that He saw our sad state and sent someone to be righteous in our place. This promise is the promise upon which our faith is based, the promise of the Savior who redeems us.
That promise was revealed in Jesus Christ, who was the one who “put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.†It was Jesus who lived the righteous life that God sought for and could not find in any other man, and it was Jesus that was punished for our sin so that we can share in His righteousness.
It is unpleasant for us to thing about our sin, yet it is upon our sin that we most often dwell. What we need to remember with joy and peace is that our sin is forgiven and forgotten because of our Savior. Because of that forgiveness, we now have the righteousness God searches for through our faith in Jesus Christ. We can present ourselves now to God, through faith, as ready servants of that righteousness to the world.
DLH
