When Truth Stumbles in the Street Text: Isaiah 59:9-21
Introduction: The Great Stagger
We live in an age of profound disorientation. Men and women today are staggering. They are stumbling about, not because the lights have gone out in their houses, but because the light has gone out in their minds. Our culture is drunk on the wine of relativism, and the result is a collective societal stagger. We are told there is no such thing as truth, only your truth and my truth. Justice is no longer a standard to be met, but a weapon to be wielded. We grope for solutions to our problems, but we are like blind men trying to perform surgery. We have diagnosed ourselves with a thousand different ailments, but we refuse to acknowledge the one great disease that is killing us, which is our rebellion against the living God.
The prophet Isaiah is not writing a history of a bygone era. He is holding up a mirror to every generation that decides it knows better than God. The symptoms he describes are not unique to eighth-century Judah; they are the perennial results of human sin. When a people turn their back on God, they do not become free; they become blind. When they reject His law, they do not find liberty; they find themselves in chains, growling like bears and moaning like doves. This passage is a divine diagnosis of a culture in cardiac arrest, followed by the astonishing account of God Himself becoming the surgeon.
What happens when a society abandons the transcendent standard of God's Word? What happens when truth is no longer a rock to stand on, but something that has stumbled and fallen in the public square? Isaiah tells us precisely what happens. And more than that, he tells us what God does about it. This is not a message of despair, but it is a message that forces us to walk through the valley of despair to get to the mountain of hope. It is a message that shows us the utter bankruptcy of human effort and the glorious, conquering sufficiency of God's own arm.
The Text
Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not overtake us; We hope for light, but behold, darkness, For brightness, but we walk in thick darkness. We grope along the wall like blind men; We grope like those who have no eyes; We stumble at midday as in the twilight, Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men. All of us growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We hope for justice, but there is none, For salvation, but it is far from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before You, And our sins answer against us; For our transgressions are with us, And we know our iniquities: Transgressing and denying Yahweh, And turning back from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words. Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands far away; For truth has stumbled in the street, And rightness cannot enter. So it is that truth is missing; And he who turns aside from evil makes himself plunder. Then Yahweh saw, And it was evil in His eyes that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him. He 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. According to what they deserve, so He will pay in full, Wrath to His adversaries, what is deserved to His enemies; To the coastlands He will pay what they deserve. So they will fear the name of Yahweh from the west And His glory from the rising of the sun, For He will come like a rushing stream Which the wind of Yahweh makes flee. “A Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares Yahweh. “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says Yahweh: “My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, nor from the mouth of your seed’s seed,” says Yahweh, “from now and forever.”
(Isaiah 59:9-21 LSB)
The Diagnosis of a Blind Nation (vv. 9-15a)
The first part of our text is a corporate confession. This is not the prophet pointing his finger and saying "you sinners." He includes himself, saying "we" and "us." This is the remnant of God's people acknowledging the reality of their condition.
"Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not overtake us; We hope for light, but behold, darkness, For brightness, but we walk in thick darkness." (Isaiah 59:9)
The consequence of sin is spelled out plainly. Justice and righteousness are not just absent; they are "far from us." They can't even catch up. The people look for light, for moral clarity, for a way forward, but all they find is darkness. This is the great lie of sin. It promises enlightenment and freedom, but it delivers blindness and confusion. When you abandon God, the source of all light, you don't get to keep a little bit of light for yourself. You get darkness.
The imagery becomes even more pathetic in the next verses.
"We grope along the wall like blind men; We grope like those who have no eyes; We stumble at midday as in the twilight, Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men." (Isaiah 59:10)
This is a picture of utter helplessness. They are trying to navigate their world, but without sight. They stumble in broad daylight, a time of greatest clarity, as though it were dusk. This is what happens when a culture rejects God's Word. It loses its bearings entirely. The most obvious things become confusing. The distinction between male and female, once the most basic observation, becomes a source of profound confusion. The definition of marriage, the foundation of society, becomes a political football. We are stumbling at midday.
And the result is not quiet contemplation. It is animalistic misery. "All of us growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves" (v. 11). This is the sound of a frustrated, angry, and grieving people. They are powerful like bears but can only growl in their cages. They are mournful like doves, cooing over their losses. They want justice, they want salvation, but it is far off because they have pushed it away.
Then comes the heart of the confession, the root of the problem.
"For our transgressions are multiplied before You, And our sins answer against us...Transgressing and denying Yahweh, And turning back from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words." (Isaiah 59:12-13)
Here it is. This is not a political problem or a sociological phenomenon. It is a sin problem. Their sins are not minor infractions; they are "multiplied." And their sins testify against them. They are their own prosecuting attorneys. The core sin is theological: "denying Yahweh." All the other sins, the oppression, the revolt, the lies, flow from this central act of treason against their covenant Lord. When you deny God, you will inevitably begin to lie, because you have rejected the source of all truth.
The summary of this societal collapse is stark: "Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands far away; For truth has stumbled in the street, And rightness cannot enter. So it is that truth is missing" (vv. 14-15a). Truth is personified as a person who has been tripped up and lies fallen in the public square, and no one can get past it. When truth falls, everything falls with it. And in such a world, the man who tries to live righteously, "he who turns aside from evil makes himself plunder." Doing the right thing makes you a target. This is the inevitable end of a society that rejects God. Good becomes evil, and evil becomes good.
The Divine Intervention (vv. 15b-16)
Just when the diagnosis seems terminal, the perspective shifts from earth to heaven. Man has done his worst. Now God will do His work.
"Then Yahweh saw, And it was evil in His eyes that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that there was no one to intercede..." (Isaiah 59:15b-16a)
God sees. He is not a distant, deistic clockmaker. He is an active observer, and He has a moral reaction to what He sees. The lack of justice is not just unfortunate; it is "evil in His eyes." But then comes a truly staggering statement. God looks for a man, for an intercessor, for someone to stand in the gap and plead for the people, and He finds no one. He is "astonished." This is an anthropomorphism, of course, but it communicates a profound truth. The situation is so far gone that there is no human solution. No political hero, no grassroots movement, no religious reformer can fix this. The failure is total.
And because there is no man to save, God Himself will save. "Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him" (v. 16b). When all human agency fails, God's agency takes over. He does not need our help. Salvation is a unilateral, sovereign act of God. His "arm" is a metaphor for His power and action in history. This is the central theme of redemption. We were dead in our sins, without a rescuer, and God's own arm, in the person of His Son, reached down and brought salvation.
The Divine Warrior (vv. 17-19)
How does God's arm bring salvation? He comes as a warrior, prepared for holy war against sin and injustice.
"He 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." (Isaiah 59:17)
This is the original armor of God, which Paul later tells us to put on in Ephesians 6. But here, it is God Himself who is the warrior. His breastplate is His own perfect righteousness. His helmet is the salvation He alone provides. His garments are vengeance, and His cloak is zeal. This is not a God who is passively wringing His hands. This is a God who is moved by a holy zeal for His own name and a righteous vengeance against all that opposes it. He is coming to set things right.
And His actions are perfectly just. "According to what they deserve, so He will pay in full, Wrath to His adversaries, what is deserved to His enemies" (v. 18). God's wrath is not an arbitrary tantrum. It is the settled, righteous, and deserved response to evil. This judgment will be so decisive that it will cause the whole world to take notice. "So they will fear the name of Yahweh from the west And His glory from the rising of the sun" (v. 19). God's ultimate plan is not just to save Israel, but to display His glory to all nations, from the setting of the sun to its rising. His coming will be like an unstoppable, cleansing flood, driven by His own Spirit.
The Redeemer's Covenant (vv. 20-21)
The climax of this divine intervention is not just judgment, but redemption. The Divine Warrior is also the Divine Redeemer.
"A Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares Yahweh." (Isaiah 59:20)
The warrior who comes in wrath to His enemies comes as a Redeemer, a Goel, a kinsman-redeemer, to His own people. He comes to Zion, to the heart of His covenant people. But notice the qualification: He comes "to those who turn from transgression in Jacob." This is not universalism. This is a call to repentance. God's salvation is for sinners, but it is for repentant sinners. The Apostle Paul quotes this very verse in Romans 11 to speak of the future salvation of Israel, showing that this promise finds its ultimate fulfillment in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And what does this Redeemer bring? He brings a new and everlasting covenant.
In verse 21, God makes a stunning promise:
"As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says Yahweh: “My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, nor from the mouth of your seed’s seed,” says Yahweh, “from now and forever.”" (Isaiah 59:21)
This is the promise of the New Covenant in its essence. The problem under the Old Covenant was that the law was external, written on stone, and the people's hearts were rebellious. The solution is not a new law, but a new heart. God promises to put His Spirit upon and within His people. This is the promise of Pentecost. And He promises to put His words in their mouths. This is the promise of regeneration, where God's people are made willing and able to speak and live His truth. This is not a temporary fix. It is a permanent, generational, and eternal covenant. It will not fail because it depends not on our faithfulness, but on His. "Says Yahweh... says Yahweh," He repeats, putting His own name and character on the line. This covenant is as sure as God Himself.
Conclusion: The Arm of the Lord Revealed
We see in our own day a society stumbling at noon. We see truth fallen in the street. We see growling and moaning. We see leaders and institutions groping like the blind. And if we are honest, we see this same blindness and sin in our own hearts. There is no man to intercede. There is no human program, no political party, no educational reform that can fix a problem this deep.
But Yahweh saw. He saw, and He was displeased, and He acted. His own arm brought salvation. That arm has a name. The arm of the Lord was revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the Divine Warrior who put on the breastplate of His own perfect righteousness and went to war on our behalf. He absorbed the vengeance we deserved on the cross. He is the Redeemer who came to Zion, who purchased us with His own blood.
And He is the one who has established this everlasting covenant. Through His death and resurrection, He has poured out His Spirit upon His people. He has put His Word, the gospel, in our mouths. And He has promised that this Word and this Spirit will never depart from His people, from us, from our children, and from our children's children, forever. The world may be staggering in darkness, but the church has been given the light. The world may be moaning in despair, but we have been given the words of eternal life. Our task is not to grope along the wall, but to stand on the Word, be filled with the Spirit, and proclaim the coming of the Redeemer who makes all things new.