Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 59:1

I. The case of the Jews, to whom these words were first addressed, does not shake our confidence in God's willingness or power to save. They have been oppressed, persecuted, trodden under foot; and, like the grass which grows thickest when trodden on, they have thriven under oppression—bearing a charmed life—the true sons of their fathers in the land of Egypt; of whom it was said, the more they were afflicted, the more they grew. Living, multiplying, flourishing, amid circumstances that by all the common laws of existence should have been fatal to their existence, they illustrate my text—proving the unchanging and unchangeable power of God as plainly as Daniel safe among hungry lions, or the bush that burned and, burning, was not consumed.

II. Consider the truths expressed in these words. (1) God's power to save is neither lost nor lessened. (2) The Lord's power to hear and answer prayer is neither lost nor lessened; His ear is not heavy, that it cannot hear.

III. This truth is full of comfort and encouragement (1) to God's people; (2) to sinners.

T. Guthrie, Speaking to the Heart, p. 38.

References: Isaiah 59:1, Isaiah 59:2.—Bishop Walsham How, Plain Words, 2nd series, p. 57. Isaiah 59:2.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 4th series, p. 6; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 66. Isaiah 59:5.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 221. Isaiah 59:9.—Ibid., Sermons, vol. xv., No. 884. Isaiah 59:15, Isaiah 59:16.—R. Tuck, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 344. Isaiah 59:17.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv., No. 832. Isaiah 59:19.—Ibid., vol. xii., No. 718.