JOIN US THIS SUNDAY AT 10AM
Redemption for a Generation, Pt. 2
Isaiah 59:9-21 (NLT) says,
9So there is no justice among us, and we know nothing about right living. We look for light but find only darkness. We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.
10We grope like the blind along a wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. Even at brightest noontime, we stumble as though it were dark. Among the living, we are like the dead.
11We growl like hungry bears; we moan like mournful doves. We look for justice, but it never comes. We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.
12 For our sins are piled up before God and testify against us. Yes, we know what sinners we are.
13 We know we have rebelled and have denied the LORD. We have turned our backs on our God. We know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies.
14Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.
15Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked. The LORD looked and was displeased to find there was no justice.
16He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him.
17He put on righteousness as his body armor and placed the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.
18He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds. His fury will fall on his foes. He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.
19In the west, people will respect the name of the LORD; in the east, they will glorify him. For he will come like a raging flood tide driven by the breath of the LORD.
20“The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins,” says the LORD.
21“And this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the LORD, have spoken!
9So there is no justice among us, and we know nothing about right living. We look for light but find only darkness. We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.
10We grope like the blind along a wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. Even at brightest noontime, we stumble as though it were dark. Among the living, we are like the dead.
11We growl like hungry bears; we moan like mournful doves. We look for justice, but it never comes. We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.
12 For our sins are piled up before God and testify against us. Yes, we know what sinners we are.
13 We know we have rebelled and have denied the LORD. We have turned our backs on our God. We know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies.
14Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.
15Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked. The LORD looked and was displeased to find there was no justice.
16He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him.
17He put on righteousness as his body armor and placed the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.
18He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds. His fury will fall on his foes. He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.
19In the west, people will respect the name of the LORD; in the east, they will glorify him. For he will come like a raging flood tide driven by the breath of the LORD.
20“The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins,” says the LORD.
21“And this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s children forever. I, the LORD, have spoken!
When God looked upon the shape of Israel and saw there was no intercessor or Redeemer, that is when Jesus came on the scene. He is seen on the right hand of the Father with a helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, robe of vengeance and cloak of divine passion. Long before Jesus ever came in the form of human flesh and died on a cross, He was girded with armor. Paul’s description of the armor of God in Ephesians 6 followed after the imagery of Christ in heaven. Therefore, when you are equipped with God’s armor, you are not only going to be battle in the spirit realm, but you are also setting forth the example of Christ here on earth where you become on this planet who Christ is in heaven! Here is what His armor looks like:
- Breastplate of righteousness because righteousness protects the heart. Our breastplate of righteousness is to guard our hearts from wrongful desires, sinful intentions, a damaged integrity, and the pains of others’ mistakes. You do not have to defend your integrity because your integrity will defend you! Proverbs 11:3 says, “The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.”
- Helmet of salvation to guard thoughts from depression and foolishness. Salvation is what protects your mind, allowing you to be equipped with the mind of Christ. The thought of foolishness is sin (Proverbs 24:9), and to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6). Jesus laid down a crown for a helmet.
- Garment of vengeance is to overcome bitterness and retaliation. It is about knowing who your enemy is, which is not people, but every demonic principality and power. Vengeance does not come out of a place of bitterness but redemption. Some of you have been seeking for vengeance when you need to be seeking for your redemption. Once you get locked in with the Redeemer, His vengeance will go to war on your behalf! This is not for selfish benefits but so that a generation can return back to God!
- The mantle of passion is to dismantle boredom, laziness and a misplaced church. It is being clothed with purpose, coming from a previous passion, as, in this case, John the Baptist! Our dead churches are not clothed with divine passion, but this mantle is passed down from Christ to us when we truly walk in redemptive authority and power!
One piece of armor that seems to be missing in Isaiah 59 was the sword of the Spirit. But Jesus is the Word made manifest to destroy every work of the devil. He is the Word with a helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, garment of vengeance and mantle of divine passion. Everything is centered around the Word! John actually a sword coming out of the mouth of Christ (Revelation 1:16; 2:12; 19:15). *When you are seated in heavenly places, the sword will come out of your mouth! It is His Word that brings redemption because it convicts hearts of their need for salvation and deliverance. What does redemption look like? Isaiah 61:1-3 says, “1The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.” This is redemption, and if we are saved, the Spirit of Christ is within us, meaning that redemption is inside of you! We must know how to use it!
Many of us are familiar with the helmet of salvation to protect our thoughts and the breastplate of righteousness to guard the integrity of our heart, but where is our cloak of divine passion? Where is vengeance upon the enemy? Too many have lost their zeal for God. They sit quietly in padded pews underneath crystal chandeliers with not hunger to see the lost saved. We have a generation of young people who do not know how to live it when the preaching stops, worship when the music ends, or pray when the church doors are shut. What about the secret place? This is where we take vengeance upon our enemy. Vengeance means counteracting those graves filled with young people who died from drug overdoses or alcohol-related incidences. Vengeance means tearing down strongholds and putting principalities on notice by unifying with our brothers and sisters in Christ in travailing prayer until the whole climate of the region shifts! Once we learn how to activate our redemption, then we can see Isaiah 59 be fulfilled in the land.
Christ’s vengeance is paying back the enemy concerning everything he has done against God’s people. We are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ! It is more than winning a battle, but it is permanently and entirely defeating and annihilating your adversary! It is getting to the point where you are no longer influenced by those past sins which held you bound, but you can stare face-to-face with it and be a witness of the empowerment of His presence. It is pulling people out of the same mess you were once in because of redemption!
Isaiah 59:19 says that in the west people were fear the name of the LORD. I believe the western hemisphere is to experience an awakening to reverencing His name once again. People in the east will give Him glory! When the enemy comes in, like a flood the Spirit of the LORD will raise up a standard (banner) against him. In the old-time church, we have put the emphasis on the enemy coming in with such destruction and fury because we have become so negatively focused on the world’s chaos, but it is in these dark ages that God’s glory shines the brightest! We know the enemy is coming in, but there is a flood against him, and it is waving a banner of victory that shows Christ as my Redeemer! It is God who is coming in like a flood against Satan and his devices, and you better know which side of the glory and redemption that you are on! You do not want His glory working against you but for you, and if God is for you, who or what can ever stand against you? (Romans 8:31)