• Journal
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• Bible Text:   

  Isaiah 59:1-3; 9-20  

  ¹ Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,

      or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;

  ² but your iniquities have made a separation

      between you and your God,

  and your sins have hidden his face from you

      so that he does not hear.

  ³ For your hands are defiled with blood

      and your fingers with iniquity;

  your lips have spoken lies;

      your tongue mutters wickedness. …

  ⁹ Therefore justice is far from us,

      and righteousness does not overtake us;

  we hope for light, and behold, darkness,

      and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

  ¹⁰ We grope for the wall like the blind;

      we grope like those who have no eyes;

  we stumble at noon as in the twilight,

      among those in full vigor we are like dead men.

  ¹¹ We all growl like bears;

      we moan and moan like doves;

  we hope for justice, but there is none;

      for salvation, but it is far from us.

  ¹² For our transgressions are multiplied before you,

      and our sins testify against us;

  for our transgressions are with us,

      and we know our iniquities:

  ¹³ transgressing, and denying the Lord,

      and turning back from following our God,

  speaking oppression and revolt,

      conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

  ¹⁴ Justice is turned back,

      and righteousness stands far away;

  for truth has stumbled in the public squares,

      and uprightness cannot enter.

  ¹⁵ Truth is lacking,

      and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

  The Lord saw it, and it displeased him

      that there was no justice.

  ¹⁶ He saw that there was no man,

      and wondered that there was no one to intercede;

  then his own arm brought him salvation,

      and his righteousness upheld him.

  ¹⁷ He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

      and a helmet of salvation on his head;

  he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,

      and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.

  ¹⁸ According to their deeds, so will he repay,

      wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;

      to the coastlands he will render repayment.

  ¹⁹ So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,

      and his glory from the rising of the sun;

  for he will come like a rushing stream,

      which the wind of the Lord drives.

  ²⁰ “And a Redeemer will come to Zion,

      to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.

  John 1:1-5; 14

  ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  …

  ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

• Reflection & Application:       

  • Reflect on the condition of man described in Isaiah 59 and the hopeful note at the end of the chapter when “a Redeemer will come to Zion.”
  • Reflect on the words describing the true nature of Jesus (“the Word”) in this passage, and the fact that he came and “dwelt among us” (v.14).  What does this reveal about the heart of God?

Prayer