“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 (Isaiah 59:17).“

I love it when you are going through the Word and you find something surprising.  Something that you should have known but somehow missed until just the right moment when the Spirit just drops it in your lap.  Recently I have been going through Samuel, Kings and Chronicles.  Again, I cannot put them down.  In Second Kings Hezekiah, afraid that the kingdom will be overrun by the Assyrians prays, “Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore, they were destroyed. So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone (2Ki 19:17-19).”

God hears his prayer and gives a response through Isaiah.  I am not going to post that response here for reasons of space but if you are interested check it out (2Ki 19:21-31).  At the end of that response God promises that a surviving remnant will take root and bear fruit.  God concludes with the statement, “The zeal of the LORD will do this (2Ki 19:31).”  That got me thinking, “what else is motivated by God’s zeal.”  In my search I found Isaiah 59:17 and discovered that there is a breastplate of righteousness and a helmet of salvation in the Old Testament!!!  Random I know, but I thought, “what the heck I thought those were only in Ephesians.”

In Isaiah 59, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God is indicting Israel for their sins.  It contains accusations like, “your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness (Isa 59:3)” and “Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands (Isa 59:6).”  They speak, “oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words (Isa 59:13).”  To say it displeased the Lord is both true and an understatement.  “He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no one to intercede (Isa 59:16).”  In other words, in man, there was not hope; no one who could intervene.  “All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one (Rom 3:12).”

This is where it gets interesting, “then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him (Isa 59:16).”  The pronouns here are confusing.  “His” own arm is the arm of God but commenters identify the “him” who is brought salvation as the personification of Israel.  After all, why would God need salvation.  “His” righteousness is the righteousness of God and the “him” who was upheld is also thought to be Israel personified.  Again, why would God need to be upheld.  It makes perfect sense because I have no righteousness that would be sufficient to uphold me against my unrighteousness and that is why I need salvation.  God has no such need.

The problem is that God had promised to redeem Israel in chapter 49 of Isaiah.  It is a problem because if He leaves it to Israel there is no hope for Israel and His promise will be broken.  A broken promise is an act of unrighteousness.  God cannot violate His righteousness, so God needs His salvation for Israel or Israel is lost!  Additionally, God needs to save Israel in such a way that his righteousness is upheld.  He can not simply wave away the justice that is required at the disobedience of Israel.  To fail at justice is also an act of unrighteous.  What I am learning is that God is zealous of His righteousness.  His righteous breastplate and His helmet of salvation are going to save Israel.  The good news is that God suits up.

Seven hundred years later, “by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Rom 8:3-4).”  Jesus sacrifice, on the cross, perfectly met the requirements of justice.  God’s righteousness was upheld while in righteousness He simultaneously extends His salvation to those who would accept it.  If you want to be free you can be free!

When you take the helmet of salvation you are accepting this gift and to put on the breastplate of righteousness is to put on the righteousness of God.  Recently, a friend posted on social media that he was sick and tired of his constant sin and a life of garbage.  He could feel his soul burning.  In despair he asked if it was too late to go back to God?  How could he start to get right with Him?  The first thing is to realize that, apart from Him, we can not get right with Him.  We do not put on a breastplate of our own righteousness and we can not forge our own helmet of salvation.  Those belong to the Lord.  But He has given them to you that you might be redeemed!  Confess your sins (1Jo 1:9), accept the helmet of salvation, and wrap your self in his righteousness.  It is your only chance to stand (Eph 6:13)!

To reject His salvation is to face His justice.  The zeal that has motivated His righteous salvation will one day lead to His righteous punishment: His righteous justice.  The day He puts on His garments of vengeance will be a terrible day.  “The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood… (Joe 2:31).”  His righteousness will be upheld on that day as well!

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Photo by Sydney Angove on Unsplash