His Own Arm Brought Salvation

In Romans 3 Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah: “And the way of peace they have not known” (Romans 3:17). Those words come from Isaiah 59.

God can save. “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear” (Isaiah 59:1). A short arm cannot reach very far. God’s arm is never too short to reach you, and His ear is never too heavy to hear.

The real problem. “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear” (59:2). Iniquities means sins. God was not the problem. Sin was.

Like a wall. Sin is like a wall between people and God. Nobody can climb over it on their own.

Sin spreads. Isaiah says sin showed up in people’s hands, lips and feet (59:3-7). Their words were false, and they hurried to do wrong.

No peace. “The way of peace they have not known” (59:8). Isaiah adds, “Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.” Sin never leads to real peace.

Not God’s fault. When people feel far from God, it is never because God has become weak or deaf. Sin is what pushes people away from Him.

In the dark. “We look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness!” (59:9). Sin makes life confusing, like walking in the dark.

Feeling for the wall. “We grope for the wall like the blind” (59:10). To grope means to feel your way with your hands because you cannot see.

Far away. “We look for justice, but there is none; For salvation, but it is far from us” (59:11). The people wanted to be saved, but they could not save themselves.

Telling the truth. “For our transgressions are multiplied before You, And our sins testify against us” (59:12). Transgressions are sins. To testify is to speak like a witness. Their own sins spoke against them, just as every mouth is stopped in Romans 3:19.

Admitting it. The people said of their sins, “we know them” (59:12). They stopped making excuses and told God the truth. That is where turning back to God begins.

The gospel. God’s hand is not too short to save. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Everyone who trusts Him is brought near to God.

What to do. Tell God the truth about your sin. Do not hide it. Trust Jesus, who takes away the wall of sin.

Isaiah 59 does not end in the dark. After the people told the truth about their sin, God acted.

God saw. “Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice” (59:15). God sees every wrong thing. It displeases Him when people are treated unfairly.

Truth in the street. “For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter” (59:14). Equity means fairness. People had stopped caring about what was true and fair.

No one to help. “He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor” (59:16). An intercessor is someone who steps in between to help and to plead for others. No person could fix the problem of sin.

God’s own arm. “Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him” (59:16). The arm is a picture of strength in action. When no one else could save, God did it Himself.

Dressed to rescue. “For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head” (59:17). Isaiah pictures God like a rescuer getting ready to save His people.

God against evil. God will also repay His enemies “According to their deeds” (59:18). He is good, so He is against evil.

The Redeemer. “The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the Lord (59:20). A redeemer is someone who pays to set others free. He comes to people who turn from their sin.

The arm of the Lord. Isaiah later asks, “to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1).

The One who steps in. We could not step in for ourselves. Jesus stepped in for us. “He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

The cross. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). On the cross Jesus took the punishment for our sin.

Alive. Jesus rose again on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4). He is alive and able to save.

Not by our strength. Salvation is something God does, not something we earn. We receive it by trusting Jesus.

What to do. Turn from your sin and trust Jesus. You cannot save yourself, but God’s arm is strong enough to save you.