ISAIAH 59
OPENS WITH GOD'S REALITY CHECK...THE SIN GOD SEES.
Verse 1 tells us the PROBLEM of God's people: what the cause is NOT.
"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear."
Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save...
God's people WONDERED WHY God did not seem to rescue them from their trials. They WONDERED IF perhaps God had diminished in strength - if His hand had become shortened. Isaiah the prophet assures them that this IS NOT the case.
This touches on one of THE GREATEST PROBLEMS in practical theology.
AND THAT IS?
HOW can there be a God of love and all power when there is human suffering?
If we loved someone and had the power to end their suffering, wouldn't we do it? Isaiah addresses those who wondered if God wasn't all powerful, and that is why their suffering continues.
AMAZINGLY ENOUGH...Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a remarkably wide-selling book titled When Bad Things Happen to Good People. It sold more than a half a million copies before going to paperback and was on the New York Times best-seller list for a whole year.
The whole point of his book is to say God IS ALL loving but NOT ALL powerful, that God IS GOOD, but NOT SOVEREIGN. So, when bad things happen to good people, it is because events are OUT OF God's control.
Kushner advises his readers to "learn to love [God] and FORGIVE HIM despite HIS limitations."
This certainly is not the God of the Bible, because the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save. Isaiah simply says, "Behold this. See this."
Nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear...
But this isn't the situation at all, as Isaiah reminds us. God's ear is not heavy. He can hear us just fine.
Verse 2 tells us the problem of God's people: what the cause IS.
"But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear."
But your iniquities have separated you from your God...
The problem IS NOT with God's power, His knowledge, or His interest. The problem is with OUR iniquities. Sin has separated US from your God.
AND THE BIBLE TELLS US IN WHAT WAY DOES SIN SEPARATE US FROM GOD!
Sin does not necessarily separate us from the presence of God, because God is present everywhere...told to us in Psalm 139:7.
And even Satan can have an audience with God told to us in Job 1:6.
Sin does NOT separate us from the love of God, because God loves sinners told to us in Romans 5:8.
SO HOW DOES SIN STILL SEPARATE?
- Sin separates us from fellowship WITH God, because at least at the point of our sin, we no longer think alike with God.
- Sin separates us from the BLESSING OF God, because at least at the point of our sin, we are not trusting God and relying on Him.
- Sin separates us from the some of the BENEFITS OF God's love, even as JESUS told us of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32, who was STILL loved by the father, but didn't enjoy the benefits of his love when he was in sin.
- Sin separates us, in some way, from the PROTECTION of God, because He will allow trials to come our way to correct us.
How easy it is for us to blame our problems on everything except our iniquities! We will even blame God before seeing that the problem is with us! We will deny who God is before seeing that the problem is with us!
And your sins have hidden His face from you...
This explains why God's people no longer felt the face of the LORD shining on them as in Numbers 6:25. It was their sins, not the inability of God to hear, or his lack of interest in hearing.
This helps us understand - at least in a small way - the cry of Jesus from the cross, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? in Matthew 27:46.
As Jesus stood in the place of guilty sinners, there was some way in which the face of God the Father WAS HIDDEN from Him. Not in an ultimate, absolute sense; but in some way. But that was for our sins, not His own!
Verses 3-8 tells us a detailed description of the sins of God's people.
"For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spider's web; he who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. Their webs will not become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways; they have made themselves crooked paths; whoever takes that way shall not know peace."
Your hands are defiled with blood...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
They practiced and approved of violence and murder.
Your lips have spoken lies...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
They lied with ease and regularity.
No one calls for justice...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
They did not share God's heart for what was fair and good; everyone simply thought in terms of their own good. Both justice and truth were distant concepts, and instead of justice there were empty words, instead of truth there were lies.
They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity, as if they were snakes giving birth to more evil serpents, bringing forth nothing but death (he who eats of their eggs dies) and more evil (from that which is crushed a viper breaks out).
The act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil...
Both hands and feet are given to sin. But it doesn't end there; even their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity.
They have made themselves crooked paths; whoever takes that way shall not know peace...
Their choice and the consequences are plain. Their crooked paths will NEVER lead them into the way of peace, meaning peace in the full sense of shalom.
Paul quotes Isaiah 59:7-8 in Romans 3:15-17. He uses this passage, connected with other Old Testament passages, to demonstrate that man is a sinner from "head to toe."
In light of all this sin, it is amazing - absolutely amazing - that God's people could still believe (as they did in Isaiah 59:1) that the problem was with God, and not them!
Verses 9-11 tells us THE EFECTS OF SIN THAT THEY DO SEE...Because of their sin, darkness comes.
"Therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us; we look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as at twilight; we are as dead men in desolate places. We all growl like bears, and moan sadly like doves; we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us."
Therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Because God's people had NO interest in justice, God did NOT bless them with it.
Because God's people did NOT care about righteousness, God did NOT bless them with it.
AND REMEMBER...THIS IS THE SAME PRINCIPLE Jesus stated in Matthew 13:12, which says, "Whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."
We look for light, but there is darkness! Now, having given themselves over to darkness, when they want the light, it isn't there. When you always have the light to go to, the darkness feels "fun." It seems mysterious and adventurous. But when the light is taken away, we despair in the darkness.
Verses 12-15a tells us CONFESSING their sin and ADMITTING their guilt.
"For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: in transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey."
Our sins testify against us … righteousness stands afar off...
Now God's people are in a better place. They have had their reality check, and see things as they are. No longer do they blame the "shortened hand" of God, or His "heavy ear." They know it is because of their own sins that righteousness stands afar off.
Verses 15b-16a tells us what the LORD saw. The salvation and redemption the LORD sees
"Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor."
The LORD saw it, and it displeased Him, that there was no justice...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
The state of God's people was no mystery to the LORD. They cried out in Isaiah 59:12-15a, stating how desperate their condition was - and the LORD knew it all along.
He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor...
Not only was the state of God's people bad; but no one among them took the lead in getting it right. Where was the man would lead the people in righteousness? He could NOT be found. Where was the intercessor who would plead God's case to the people, and the people's repentance to their God? NO intercessor could be found.
Verses 16b-19 tells us what the LORD did.
"Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; the coastlands He will fully repay. So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun; when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him."
Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
God WAITED AND WAITED for a disobedient Israel to turn TO HIM.
He WAITED AND WAITED for a man to lead them back to Him, or an intercessor to plead before Him.
NONE AROSE...so the LORD did it Himself.
If a man or an intercessor would have stepped forth, it would have saved Israel a lot of calamity.
But the fact that NO man, or NO intercessor stepped forward DID NOT derail God's plan.
He WAITED to work in partnership through a man.
He WAITED to work through an intercessor.
But God's work AND HIS PLAN would still go forth if none arose!
He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head...
No man stepped forward to work with the LORD, so the LORD puts on his armor and goes forth to destroy His enemies, protect His people, and glorify His name!
Most people don't pick up the connection between Isaiah 59:17-18 and Paul's comments on our spiritual armor in Ephesians 5:10-17. In that passage, Paul calls that armor the whole armor of God, and it is God's armor in the sense that it belongs to Him - after all, He uses it here in Isaiah 59:17-18 - and He allows us to use it to fight for Him.
BUT WE CAN SEE THE CONNECTION...IF WE SEEK.
If we don't put on the armor of God and fight for Him, then eventually God will put it on Himself and fight for His glory. But God's preference is to work in and through us, with us using His armor.
The end result will be wonderful...
So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. In His ultimate victory - which He wants us to share in, but will accomplish with or without us - the glory of the LORD will be known and respected from east to west.
When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him. The enemies of the LORD will never triumph over Him. Even if they come in like a flood, and seem unstoppable, the LORD will lift up a battle-standard against him, and he will be stopped.
RIGHT HERE....ALMIGHTY GOD gives His people the glorious privilege of being more than conquerors, as we are REMINDED OF in Romans 8:37), but THE LORD WILL WIN IT WITH OR WITHOUT US.
Verses 20-21 tells us what the LORD said.
"The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob," says the LORD. "As for Me," says the LORD, "this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants," says the LORD, "from this time and forevermore."
The Redeemer will come to Zion...
After speaking in the third-person through the prophet, now the LORD speaks in the first-person through the prophet. When He speaks, He declares: the Redeemer - the goel - will come to Zion.
The goel - sometimes translated kinsman-redeemer, here simply as Redeemer -had a specifically defined role in Israel's family life.
WHY?
The kinsman-redeemer was responsible to buy a fellow Israelite out of slavery, told to us in Leviticus 25:48.
He was responsible to be the "avenger of blood" to make sure the murderer of a family member answered to the crime, told to us in Numbers 35:19.
He was responsible to buy back family land that had been forfeited , told to us in Leviticus 25:25.
And he was responsible to carry on the family name by marrying a childless widow, told to us in Deuteronomy 25:5-10.
In these, we see that the goel, the kinsman-redeemer, was responsible to safeguard the persons, the property, and the posterity of the family.
When the New King James Version capitalizes Redeemer, it does so rightly - because our goel IS Jesus Christ.
JESUS IS our near kinsman because He has added perfect humanity to His deity.
JESUS IS the one who buys us out of slavery.
JESUS IS the one who avenges wrongs done to us.
JESUS DOES protects our inheritance, and blesses and guards our posterity.
This promise of the LORD in Isaiah 59:20 could be reworded, "I will send My Messiah, the Redeemer for all humanity, Jesus of Nazareth!"
Who does the Redeemer come to?
To those who turn away from transgression.
AND INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, DID YOU KNOW The goel only worked for those who ASKED for His services, and knew they NEEDED Him.
My Spirit who is upon you, and My words … shall not depart from your mouth … from this time and forevermore...
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
The covenant God makes with His people promises an ABIDING Spirit and an ENDURING word. God accomplishes His purpose in people and through all creation through both the Spirit and the word.
ISAIAH 59OPENS WITH GOD'S REALITY CHECK...THE SIN GOD SEES.Verse 1 tells us the PROBLEM of God's people: what the cause is NOT."Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear."Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save...God's people WONDERED WHY God did not seem to rescue them from their trials. They WONDERED IF perhaps God had diminished in strength - if His hand had become shortened. Isaiah the prophet assures them that this IS NOT the case.This touches on one of THE GREATEST PROBLEMS in practical theology.AND THAT IS?HOW can there be a God of love and all power when there is human suffering?If we loved someone and had the power to end their suffering, wouldn't we do it? Isaiah addresses those who wondered if God wasn't all powerful, and that is why their suffering continues.AMAZINGLY ENOUGH...Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a remarkably wide-selling book titled When Bad Things Happen to Good People. It sold more than a half a million copies before going to paperback and was on the New York Times best-seller list for a whole year.The whole point of his book is to say God IS ALL loving but NOT ALL powerful, that God IS GOOD, but NOT SOVEREIGN. So, when bad things happen to good people, it is because events are OUT OF God's control.Kushner advises his readers to "learn to love [God] and FORGIVE HIM despite HIS limitations."This certainly is not the God of the Bible, because the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save. Isaiah simply says, "Behold this. See this."Nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear...But this isn't the situation at all, as Isaiah reminds us. God's ear is not heavy. He can hear us just fine.Verse 2 tells us the problem of God's people: what the cause IS."But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear."But your iniquities have separated you from your God...The problem IS NOT with God's power, His knowledge, or His interest. The problem is with OUR iniquities. Sin has separated US from your God.AND THE BIBLE TELLS US IN WHAT WAY DOES SIN SEPARATE US FROM GOD!Sin does not necessarily separate us from the presence of God, because God is present everywhere...told to us in Psalm 139:7.And even Satan can have an audience with God told to us in Job 1:6.Sin does NOT separate us from the love of God, because God loves sinners told to us in Romans 5:8.SO HOW DOES SIN STILL SEPARATE?- Sin separates us from fellowship WITH God, because at least at the point of our sin, we no longer think alike with God.- Sin separates us from the BLESSING OF God, because at least at the point of our sin, we are not trusting God and relying on Him.- Sin separates us from the some of the BENEFITS OF God's love, even as JESUS told us of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32, who was STILL loved by the father, but didn't enjoy the benefits of his love when he was in sin.- Sin separates us, in some way, from the PROTECTION of God, because He will allow trials to come our way to correct us.How easy it is for us to blame our problems on everything except our iniquities! We will even blame God before seeing that the problem is with us! We will deny who God is before seeing that the problem is with us!And your sins have hidden His face from you...This explains why God's people no longer felt the face of the LORD shining on them as in Numbers 6:25. It was their sins, not the inability of God to hear, or his lack of interest in hearing.This helps us understand - at least in a small way - the cry of Jesus from the cross, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? in Matthew 27:46.As Jesus stood in the place of guilty sinners, there was some way in which the face of God the Father WAS HIDDEN from Him. Not in an ultimate, absolute sense; but in some way. But that was for our sins, not His own!Verses 3-8 tells us a detailed description of the sins of God's people."For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spider's web; he who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. Their webs will not become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways; they have made themselves crooked paths; whoever takes that way shall not know peace."Your hands are defiled with blood...WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?They practiced and approved of violence and murder.Your lips have spoken lies...WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?They lied with ease and regularity.No one calls for justice...WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?They did not share God's heart for what was fair and good; everyone simply thought in terms of their own good. Both justice and truth were distant concepts, and instead of justice there were empty words, instead of truth there were lies.They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity, as if they were snakes giving birth to more evil serpents, bringing forth nothing but death (he who eats of their eggs dies) and more evil (from that which is crushed a viper breaks out).The act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil...Both hands and feet are given to sin. But it doesn't end there; even their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity.They have made themselves crooked paths; whoever takes that way shall not know peace...Their choice and the consequences are plain. Their crooked paths will NEVER lead them into the way of peace, meaning peace in the full sense of shalom.Paul quotes Isaiah 59:7-8 in Romans 3:15-17. He uses this passage, connected with other Old Testament passages, to demonstrate that man is a sinner from "head to toe."In light of all this sin, it is amazing - absolutely amazing - that God's people could still believe (as they did in Isaiah 59:1) that the problem was with God, and not them!Verses 9-11 tells us THE EFECTS OF SIN THAT THEY DO SEE...Because of their sin, darkness comes."Therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us; we look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as at twilight; we are as dead men in desolate places. We all growl like bears, and moan sadly like doves; we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us."Therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us...WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?Because God's people had NO interest in justice, God did NOT bless them with it.Because God's people did NOT care about righteousness, God did NOT bless them with it.AND REMEMBER...THIS IS THE SAME PRINCIPLE Jesus stated in Matthew 13:12, which says, "Whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him."We look for light, but there is darkness! Now, having given themselves over to darkness, when they want the light, it isn't there. When you always have the light to go to, the darkness feels "fun." It seems mysterious and adventurous. But when the light is taken away, we despair in the darkness.Verses 12-15a tells us CONFESSING their sin and ADMITTING their guilt."For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: in transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. So truth fails, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey."Our sins testify against us … righteousness stands afar off...Now God's people are in a better place. They have had their reality check, and see things as they are. No longer do they blame the "shortened hand" of God, or His "heavy ear." They know it is because of their own sins that righteousness stands afar off.Verses 15b-16a tells us what the LORD saw. The salvation and redemption the LORD sees"Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor."The LORD saw it, and it displeased Him, that there was no justice...WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?The state of God's people was no mystery to the LORD. They cried out in Isaiah 59:12-15a, stating how desperate their condition was - and the LORD knew it all along.He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor...Not only was the state of God's people bad; but no one among them took the lead in getting it right. Where was the man would lead the people in righteousness? He could NOT be found. Where was the intercessor who would plead God's case to the people, and the people's repentance to their God? NO intercessor could be found.Verses 16b-19 tells us what the LORD did."Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; the coastlands He will fully repay. So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun; when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him."Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him...WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?God WAITED AND WAITED for a disobedient Israel to turn TO HIM.He WAITED AND WAITED for a man to lead them back to Him, or an intercessor to plead before Him.NONE AROSE...so the LORD did it Himself.If a man or an intercessor would have stepped forth, it would have saved Israel a lot of calamity.But the fact that NO man, or NO intercessor stepped forward DID NOT derail God's plan.He WAITED to work in partnership through a man.He WAITED to work through an intercessor.But God's work AND HIS PLAN would still go forth if none arose!He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head...No man stepped forward to work with the LORD, so the LORD puts on his armor and goes forth to destroy His enemies, protect His people, and glorify His name!Most people don't pick up the connection between Isaiah 59:17-18 and Paul's comments on our spiritual armor in Ephesians 5:10-17. In that passage, Paul calls that armor the whole armor of God, and it is God's armor in the sense that it belongs to Him - after all, He uses it here in Isaiah 59:17-18 - and He allows us to use it to fight for Him.BUT WE CAN SEE THE CONNECTION...IF WE SEEK.If we don't put on the armor of God and fight for Him, then eventually God will put it on Himself and fight for His glory. But God's preference is to work in and through us, with us using His armor.The end result will be wonderful...So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. In His ultimate victory - which He wants us to share in, but will accomplish with or without us - the glory of the LORD will be known and respected from east to west.When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him. The enemies of the LORD will never triumph over Him. Even if they come in like a flood, and seem unstoppable, the LORD will lift up a battle-standard against him, and he will be stopped.RIGHT HERE....ALMIGHTY GOD gives His people the glorious privilege of being more than conquerors, as we are REMINDED OF in Romans 8:37), but THE LORD WILL WIN IT WITH OR WITHOUT US.Verses 20-21 tells us what the LORD said."The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob," says the LORD. "As for Me," says the LORD, "this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants," says the LORD, "from this time and forevermore."The Redeemer will come to Zion...After speaking in the third-person through the prophet, now the LORD speaks in the first-person through the prophet. When He speaks, He declares: the Redeemer - the goel - will come to Zion.The goel - sometimes translated kinsman-redeemer, here simply as Redeemer -had a specifically defined role in Israel's family life.WHY?The kinsman-redeemer was responsible to buy a fellow Israelite out of slavery, told to us in Leviticus 25:48.He was responsible to be the "avenger of blood" to make sure the murderer of a family member answered to the crime, told to us in Numbers 35:19.He was responsible to buy back family land that had been forfeited , told to us in Leviticus 25:25.And he was responsible to carry on the family name by marrying a childless widow, told to us in Deuteronomy 25:5-10.In these, we see that the goel, the kinsman-redeemer, was responsible to safeguard the persons, the property, and the posterity of the family.When the New King James Version capitalizes Redeemer, it does so rightly - because our goel IS Jesus Christ.JESUS IS our near kinsman because He has added perfect humanity to His deity.JESUS IS the one who buys us out of slavery.JESUS IS the one who avenges wrongs done to us.JESUS DOES protects our inheritance, and blesses and guards our posterity.This promise of the LORD in Isaiah 59:20 could be reworded, "I will send My Messiah, the Redeemer for all humanity, Jesus of Nazareth!"Who does the Redeemer come to?To those who turn away from transgression.AND INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, DID YOU KNOW The goel only worked for those who ASKED for His services, and knew they NEEDED Him.My Spirit who is upon you, and My words … shall not depart from your mouth … from this time and forevermore...WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?The covenant God makes with His people promises an ABIDING Spirit and an ENDURING word. God accomplishes His purpose in people and through all creation through both the Spirit and the word.