Isaiah 59:15, commentary and pictures

Truth has fallen in the street and public justice has collapsed, so judgment is turned back, equity cannot enter, and corruption, oppression and violence prevail. In that condition the one who turns from evil becomes a target for hostility, reproach, persecution and selfish advantage, and the Lord sees that there is no justice and is displeased, for nothing is hidden from Him and He keeps a reckoning of oppression. This was fulfilled when Christ was hated, persecuted and falsely accused for obeying God rather than human tradition, while priests and Pharisees misled the people by perverting prophecy to sanction error. It also pictures the world before His second coming and the present perilous time, marked by greed, lawlessness and corruption like the days of Noah and Sodom, and the time since October 1844 when with no human intercessor God Himself intervenes by His own righteousness to save those who turn from transgression and to repay His adversaries. The failure comes from rejecting God's law and the Bible's authority for human traditions, corrupt ways and intemperance that benumbs judgment, and the desperate condition requires rescue through Christ the Restorer and merciful High Priest, with victory held only by conversion, the new birth, and living righteously by wisdom from God alone though truth brings hatred.

What the Verse Says

Truth has failed and has fallen in the street, judgment is turned away backward, justice stands afar off, and equity cannot enter. This collapse of public righteousness is a collapse of public truth, fairness driven away and shut out, and justice perverted. It produces greed and oppression, corruption and lawlessness, and a society marked by lawlessness, corruption, and violence. The same condition of Phariseeism, full of human regularity and regular lines yet corrupt in justice, appears wherever established practices depart from principles of justice and truth, for only divine principles are safe and only divine wisdom separates truth from lie and good from evil.

In that condition the one who departs from evil makes himself a prey. A person who turns from evil becomes a target of hostility, reproach, persecution, misrepresentation, and selfish advantage-taking. This was seen when obedience to divine commandments rather than human traditions brought hatred, persecution, and false accusation, and the same pattern recurs whenever human laws and traditions are placed above divine law. It describes a world perishing in sin and in desperate need of rescue, and it pictures widespread evil and opposition to loyal people.

The Lord saw that there was no judgment and was displeased by it. God sees the absence of justice, walks through business rooms and is present in council meetings, and nothing is hidden from Him. He sees scheming and dishonest plans that are not noble and generous and holy and true and that tarnish sacred places, keeps a reckoning of oppression, and will not justify any evil thing but condemns the injustice. The lack of a human intercessor leads to God Himself bringing salvation by His own righteousness, resisting the enemy, and redeeming those who turn from transgression.

Times and Places Fulfilled

The verse was fulfilled in the life of Christ, when obedience to God's commandments rather than human traditions brought hatred, persecution and false accusation, and the same pattern recurs whenever human laws and traditions are placed above God's law so that the faithful face reproach, persecution and misrepresentation. In His time priests and rabbis, scribes and Pharisees misled many who were convinced He was the Son of God by false reasoning, repeating prophecies of the Messiah's glory and then making contemptuous contrasts with His humble appearance, perverting the very words of prophecy to sanction error while the people failed to study the word sincerely for themselves. This describes the injustice of Phariseeism, full of human regularity and regular lines yet corrupt in justice, after God's vineyard had been worked by unrighteous men, and it applies wherever established practices depart from God's principles of justice and truth, for God's principles are the only safe principles and only God by His Spirit gives wisdom to tell truth from a lie and separate good from evil.

The same condition describes the world before Christ's first coming and also pictures the world before His second coming, the closing work of perilous times and the present age. It is the condition existing today, in which truth has fallen and fails, judgment is turned backward, justice stands afar off, equity cannot enter, and the one who departs from evil makes himself a prey. God sees this lack of justice and is displeased by it, in a society marked by greed and oppression, corruption and lawlessness, and violence resulting from rejecting God's law and denying the Bible's authority. This present corruption is like the wickedness of Noah's day and the pride of Sodom, when iniquity abounds because men have transgressed the law and broken the everlasting covenant, turning from God and His righteous government and coming more under seducing spirits while professing godliness yet indulging self-centered traits unless conscientiously controlled by God, so that evil and opposition to God's loyal people are again widespread.

The verse also shows the time fulfilling since October 1844, when judgment is turned back, justice stands far off, truth is fallen and failing, and the one who departs from evil becomes prey. The Lord sees that there is no judgment and no human intercessor and is displeased, because Christ's priestly intercession is closing and He is about to lay off priestly attire and put on garments of vengeance to repay fury to His adversaries in the wrath of God filled up in the seven last plagues. In that absence of a human intercessor God Himself intervenes to bring salvation by His own righteousness, to resist the enemy and to redeem those who turn from transgression.

The verse describes the nation's condition in the time of the Rebellion, when truth failed and there was no judgment because the people forsook and forgot God, chose other gods and followed corrupt ways until God turned from them, trampling God's law, breaking His everlasting covenant and despising the Sabbath, which lawlessness is given as the reason for national calamity and unrighteous war. It was a long-continued and progressive rebellion against higher constitution and laws, when a gloomy pall of darkness and death spread over the earth, the earth groaned under accumulated guilt, and dying mortals experienced the wretchedness in the wages of unrighteousness, as men carried out Satan's purposes by craft and deceit. In the free States the standard of morality sank lower and lower, men with depraved appetites and corrupt lives triumphed, and blinded and deceived voters used their influence to place in authority men of debasing and corrupt principles, Southern sympathizers who would preserve slavery, who would not check evil or repress depraved appetites but let them have full sway and winked at evil while witnessing a flood of woe and misery unmoved. Without grace men love to do evil, walk in darkness without self-control, give loose rein to passion and appetite until finer feelings are lost and only animal passions remain, needing a higher controlling power and rulers who terrify the evildoer lest he sink to the brute, while the innocent suffer for others' sins and wives and children drain the bitter cup to its dregs. It means America, a favored land of liberty showered with mercy and blessing, instead returned pride, covetousness, self-sufficiency and love of money, with professed Christians oppressing the poor and robbing widow and fatherless for advantage, living for appetite and extravagant display until pride was fast making a Sodom of the world, while God keeps reckoning of this treatment in the books of heaven and the cries of the oppressed reach Him who judges righteously.

The verse applies among God's institutions, churches and councils and in cities and business life, where when unrighteous principles come in truth falls in the street and fails, judgment is turned backward, justice stands afar off, equity cannot enter, and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey. God Himself walks through business rooms and is present in council meetings with nothing hidden from Him, seeing scheming and dishonest plans that are not noble and generous and holy and true and that tarnish His sacred places, and it displeases Him that there is no judgment, so there must be conversion and a turning and overturning until every unrighteous principle is expelled. Judgment is perverted when influence is given to plans of men not controlled by God's Spirit, when evil seen in councils is not firmly and boldly opposed, and when reproof has no effect, seen in selfish management that robs God's treasury, takes large undeserved wages and oppresses conscientious workers. It applies to unfair treatment within the church, including broken promises, suppression of books presenting warnings and truth, leaving precious light in obscurity through jealousy, and unjust double-dealing by false shepherds. It applies to corrupt practices of worldly city life and unjust business dealings, where worldly-wise men measure character by gold and silver and houses and lands and this corrupting standard leavens even professed Christians, and where those who uphold truth and insist on fairness face hostility, persecution and sharp, critical, designing men amid widespread crime and corruption.

Causes and God's Response

Truth fails because God's law is rejected and the authority of the Bible is denied, and because men forsake and forget God for other gods and corrupt ways until lawlessness brings calamity and unrighteous war. The everlasting covenant is broken by trampling that law and despising the Sabbath, and human laws, traditions and mere regularity are set above God's law so that those faithful to His commandments face reproach, persecution and misrepresentation as Christ did when He obeyed God rather than human tradition. The same departure appears when character is measured by gold and silver and houses and lands, a corrupting standard that has leavened even professed Christians, and when men profess godliness yet continue in transgression under seducing spirits. Guardians of justice give themselves to intoxicating drink, which benumbs judgment and destroys clear perception of right and wrong, making calm decision impossible and opening the way for Satan to work through human agents to oppress and destroy the innocent while the innocent suffer for others' sins. In such long-continued and progressive rebellion darkness and death spread, the earth groans under accumulated guilt, morality sinks, depraved men triumph, blinded voters place corrupt men and sympathizers with slavery in authority who will not check evil but wink at it amid a flood of woe, because without grace men love evil, walk without self-control and give loose rein to passion and appetite until only animal passions remain.

The verse exposes a world perishing in sin whose desperate condition requires God's own rescue through Christ, since no human intercessor can meet the lack of justice that God sees with displeasure. God therefore brings salvation by His own righteousness, resists the enemy and redeems those who turn from transgression, working out the purposes planned in the counsels of heaven to save those over whom Satan was exercising power and to set things in right light after His vineyard had been worked by unrighteous scribes and Pharisees. Christ is pointed to as Restorer and merciful High Priest made like His brethren, who suffered being tempted that He might succor the tempted, bring many sons to glory, and restore the moral image of God so that deficiencies of character and hereditary traits are overcome by faith, imputed righteousness and the new birth. Though America as a favored land of liberty has returned pride, covetousness, self-sufficiency and love of money, with professed Christians oppressing the poor and robbing widow and fatherless for advantage while living for appetite and extravagant display until pride is fast making a Sodom of the world, God keeps reckoning of this treatment in the books of heaven. The cries of the oppressed reach Him who judges righteously, yet His arm is not shortened that it cannot save and His ear is not heavy that it cannot hear, and He will vindicate only the truth and judge all injustice and double-dealing.

Faithfulness therefore requires conversion and a turning and overturning until every unrighteous principle is expelled and victory is obtained and held, with all work done with an eye single to God's glory under the sanctifying and controlling power of His Spirit. God Himself walks through business rooms and is present in council meetings with nothing hidden from Him, seeing scheming and dishonest plans that are not noble and generous and holy and true and that tarnish His sacred places, and the living God will not justify any evil thing. Wisdom to tell truth from lie and good from evil comes from God alone by His Spirit, for Phariseeism was full of regular lines yet its justice was corrupted, and following human regularity instead of God's principles again perverts justice, drives it away, collapses public truth and makes anyone turning from evil a victim. Those who have jurisdiction over lives and all who execute laws must be law-keepers and men of self-control, with full command of physical, mental and moral powers, vigor of intellect and a high sense of justice, and are guilty of crime when they yield to intemperance. Christians stand apart from a world marked by injustice and widespread crime and corruption, refusing to bring in worldly-wise corrupting principles that dishonor Christ, and living righteously though their truth opposes worldly ambition and brings hatred and persecution amid temptation in every line.