There Was No Intercessor; Therefore, His Arm Brought Salvation unto Him

Isaiah 59

This chapter starts off with two very simple statements of fact:

  • the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
  • neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

So the Lord is capable of both saving and hearing. The next verse then states:

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

Verse 2

So, there is an issue of connectivity. And perhaps it is as simple an observation as that! But Isaiah doesn’t stop there, because connectivity is what is needed to be saved. How can we know what needs to be remedied if we cannot see it?


As I roll down the list of iniquities that Isaiah spells out here, I am reminded even more so of the life choices that I have made that hopefully do not play into a system of injustices that our current economic model of life is based upon.


I have been struggling in my scripture studies, and this chapter in particular, to make sense of it all. I can understand the rebellion of Israel and their separation from God because of their iniquities. It is a real condition of bondage. I can understand the eventual fulfillment of covenants made with God. I see that the Redeemer will come to make intercession through the power of His righteousness.

Here’s where my study continues tomorrow… in verse 16. There was none to save man out of his forsaken and fallen state. Christ alone had capacity to bear what would need to be born. He saw it. He recognized the inadequacies of man. He voluntarily chose to intercede on our behalf, to fight for those that would repent.

Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.

Doctrine and Covenants 45:5

This chapter ends with a strong pronouncement of protection for the righteous. The Lord is suited up in armor to go to battle for those that would have Him to be their God.

  • he put on righteousness as a breastplate,
  • and an helmet of salvation upon his head;
  • he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing,
  • and was clad with zeal as a cloak.

See verse 17.

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.

Verse 19

These are the promises, the guarantees of His protection “unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob”.

Then at the very end of the chapter there is a promise, a covenant that the Lord makes with these righteous who will turn from their transgression:

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.

Verse 21

This is a blessing that I have long hoped for for my children.

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