14 justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.
15 truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.
17 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.
18 according to their deeds, so will he repay, wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies; to the coastlands he will render repayment.
19 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.
20 “and a Redeemer will come to zion, to those in jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord. [isaiah 59:14-20]
truth is lacking
we live in an age where we are told truth is defined by our own thinking. whatever we want to be truth becomes ‘our truth’, regardless of what common sense and scripture would tell us.
because of our cultural denial of truth, the lines of right and wrong appear blurred; we cannot see injustice and we cannot determine what is sin versus what is just someone else’s version of ‘truth’.
the result is God’s judgement, but here is also the strong foretelling of our way out of judgement – Jesus, our redeemer.
how can we know we are walking in truth in a truthless age?
vs. 17 gives us a hint, and may well have been in paul’s mind when he wrote of the armor of God we find in ephesians 6.
in ephesians as well as here, we see the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, among ‘the armor of God’. paul begins his description with ‘the belt of truth’, and this passage makes it evident why that is.
in a culture that eschews truth, that no longer knows truth and justice, we begin with the belt of truth that comes from the word of God. from Him alone can we know what is true, what is just, what is right and what brings us salvation.
but how is it that we can put on some of the same armor as God? v.20 tells us of his great salvation, of our redeemer who not only shows us truth, but is the truth, and wipes away our sins allowing us to walk in that truth with Him.
what an astonishing blessing to be saved from the wrath of God in this godless age, and to clothe ourselves with the very armor and truth of God!
~ jason sorosk