Days of Grace in Action, C. R. Oliver [the red fox clan txt] 📗

them fairly and give them what they earn. 7 I want you to share your food with the hungry and bring right into your own homes those who are helpless, poor, and destitute. Clothe those who are cold, and don't hide from relatives who need your help
TLB

Tangible evidence of a true heart! 

What follows is a further definition of holy living. It ends with a declaration: "The Lord Has Spoken." This is not conjecture for these are promises. Recipients don't get to say, "I wonder what He meant by that?" A clear and final word has been given. "If-Then" conditions are laid out.

Isaiah 58:8-14
If you do these things, God will shed his own glorious light upon you. He will heal you; your godliness will lead you forward, goodness will be a shield before you, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. 9 Then, when you call, the Lord will answer. 'Yes, I am here,' He will quickly reply. All you need to do is to stop oppressing the weak and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumors! 

10 "Feed the hungry! Help those in trouble! Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you shall be as bright as day. 11 And the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy you with all good things, and keep you healthy too; and you will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. 12 Your sons will rebuild the long-deserted ruins of your cities, and you will be known as 'The People Who Rebuild Their Walls and Cities.' 

13 "If you keep the Sabbath holy, not having your own fun and business on that day, but enjoying the Sabbath, speaking of it with delight as the Lord's holy day, and honoring the Lord in what you do, not following your own desires and pleasure nor talking idly- 14 then the Lord will be your delight, and I will see to it that you ride high and get your full share of the blessings I promised to Jacob, your father." The Lord has spoken.
TLB

Some of the richest promises are offered to the people, "If" they will repent. The grace of God wants to shower blessings on His people. Just review what God said He would do.

God will shed his own glorious light upon you.

He will heal you;

(Your godliness will lead you forward, goodness will be a shield before you), and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

God will answer when you call.

The Lord will guide you continually, and

Satisfy you with all good things, and

Keep you healthy too; (and you will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.) 12 Your sons will rebuild the long-deserted ruins of your cities, and you will be known as "The People Who Rebuild Their Walls and Cities."

The Lord will be your delight, and I will see to it that you ride high and get your full share of the blessings I promised to Jacob, your father.

That's eight, the number of new beginnings. God is saying, "I will start with you at your point of repentance and make these things happen in your behalf." Grace does that! 

Chapter 59
Should this chapter have a title it would be, "A national confession of sin." Isaiah pleads with the people and then offers a litany of unconfessed sin. He points to the Lord and virtually says, "If My people will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, I will hear from heaven above and heal their land."

Isaiah 59:1-8
1 Listen now! The Lord isn't too weak to save you. And he isn't getting deaf! He can hear you when you call! 2 But the trouble is that your sins have cut you off from God. Because of sin he has turned his face away from you and will not listen anymore. 3 For your hands are those of murderers and your fingers are filthy with sin. You lie and grumble and oppose the good. 4 No one cares about being fair and true. Your lawsuits are based on lies; you spend your time plotting evil deeds and doing them. 5 You spend your time and energy in spinning evil plans that end up in deadly actions. 6 You cheat and shortchange everyone. Everything you do is filled with sin; violence is your trademark. 7 Your feet run to do evil and rush to murder; your thoughts are only of sinning, and wherever you go you leave behind a trail of misery and death. 8 You don't know what true peace is, nor what it means to be just and good; you continually do wrong and those who follow you won't experience any peace either.
TLB

What shall we say? Does this not describe the "national" scene today? This next passage uses a repetitive phrase, "No wonder."

Isaiah 59:9-15
9 It is because of all this evil that you aren't finding God's blessings; that's why he doesn't punish those who injure you. No wonder you are in darkness when you expected light. No wonder you are walking in the gloom. 10 No wonder you grope like blind men and stumble along in broad daylight, yes, even at brightest noontime, as though it were the darkest night! No wonder you are like corpses when compared with vigorous young men! 11 You roar like hungry bears; you moan with mournful cries like doves. You look for God to keep you, but He doesn't. He has turned away. 12 For your sins keep piling up before the righteous God and testify against you. 

Yes, we know what sinners we are. 13 We know our disobedience; we have denied the Lord our God. We know what rebels we are and how unfair we are, for we carefully plan our lies. 14 Our courts oppose the righteous man; fairness is unknown. Truth falls dead in the streets, and justice is outlawed. 

15 Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who tries a better life is soon attacked. The Lord saw all the evil and was displeased to find no steps taken against sin.
TLB

Isaiah confessed their corporate sin; he leaves no stone unturned. He even shows the futility of their mis-applied faith.

You look for God to keep you, but He doesn't. He has turned away.

Oh Church, it is time to review our practices and those of our people! 

The Lord, in His grace, cries against their situation. The question of history was asked to Isaiah at the beginning of His work, "Who will go for Me?" Because no standard has been raised against gross sin, the Lord declares He will bridge the gap and defend His people. How we need this today! Of course, Isaiah is talking about Jesus in these passages-like a Father speaks of His Son.

Isaiah 59:16-21
6 He saw no one was helping you and wondered that no one intervened
. Therefore He himself stepped in to save you through His mighty power and justice. 17 He put on righteousness as armor and the helmet of salvation on His head. He clothed Himself with robes of vengeance and of godly fury. 18 He will repay His enemies for their evil deeds--fury for His foes in distant lands. 19 Then at last they will reverence and glorify the name of God from west to east. For He will come like a flood tide driven by Jehovah's breath. 20 He will come as a Redeemer to those in Zion who have turned away from sin. 

21 As for Me, this is My promise to them," says the Lord: "My Holy Spirit shall not leave them, and they shall want the good and hate the wrong--they and their children and their children's children forever. 
TLB

Jesus is seen in this passage, both as triumphant avenger (the Second Coming) and as the great Redeemer (at Calvary). His intervention goes beyond what man could do on his own. He brings the power of heaven and the glory of God with Him and establishes His justice and righteousness. Notice: "driven by the breath of Jehovah" and "foes in distant land." Not just Jerusalem and Israel will be affected in this intervention, but the whole world. 

Closing the chapter is God making a promise about His Holy Spirit. The work of the Spirit in the hearts of men will bring about generations who will love the good and hate the wrong! Such is the work of grace and the gospel.

Imprint

Publication Date: 07-06-2015

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Dedication:
Thanks to C. R. Oliver and the Newsletter Division for allowing the use of his Bible studies for this book.