Let us turn again to the Word of God as we have it here in the prophecy of Isaiah in the portion that we read chapter 59 and with the Lord's help I want this morning to direct you to the words that we find here at verses 16 and 17 Isaiah 59 16 and 17 and he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head. And he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak."

In particular, just as opening words in the 16th verse the first clause of that verse and he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Isaiah 59 and the first part of the 16th verse and he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor.

First of all then, to say something with regards to the wickedness and also the weakness of man. As striking are these opening words we just read, he saw that there was no man. God of course is omniscient and God is omnipresent. The 139th Psalm very much celebrates that blessed truth that God is everywhere and God knows all things, nothing is his, from him but how personal this particular word is it speaks of no man, it's a singular individual God knows every individual that has ever lived, ever will live And he sees us and he's intimate with every aspect, every part of our lives. You think of the words of Hagar there in Genesis 16, she says, thou God seest me. Thou God seest me. God sees men and God sees what men are, where men are. he sees the wickedness, he sees the weakness of every individual person on the whole face of the earth and so we have this word and he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor he sees the awfulness of man's rebellion against him.

Going right back to the beginning and the transgression of our first parents when God had set them there in paradise in the midst of the Garden of Eden and all the consequences that have come as a result of the fall of Adam and Eve.

How God had made man, He'd created him man in his own image, after his own likeness. The language that we have there at the end of Genesis chapter 1, we remarked on it on Thursday evening, how when God comes to create all things, in the previous part of that opening chapter of scripture, we see that he creates simply by faith, he declares Let there be. He simply speaks that word, let there be. Let there be light and there was light. Let the dry land appear, the dry land appears. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast, says the Psalmist.

But when it comes to man, God doesn't work in that fashion. There's a consultation between the persons in the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, let us make man. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And then of course in the second chapter of Genesis we have the detailed account of how God went about that work. Here is that creature that stands at the very apex of all the works of God. because he's to be the bearer of God's image, he's made in God's likeness but what does the preacher say in Ecclesiastes, lo this only have I found, God made man upright God made man upright and they have sought out many inventions and you know it's suggested by some that Adam fell on the very day that he was created.

I suppose it's a debatable point in some ways, but there's that word that we have in Psalm 49 and verse 12, man being in honor abideth not. Man being in honor abideth not. And I remember reading in Thomas Boston's work, and he was a Hebrew scholar, Thomas Boston, so he knew the original language, and he makes the point that the literal rendering of the Hebrew there would read something like this, Adam, man, it is the word Adam that's used, it's translated as man of course, Adam, being in honor, lodged not one night. abiding there as the idea of just lodging overnight and so Boston makes the point really quite strongly really that the man died so quickly died spiritually because he fell so quickly into the transgression he sinned against God

And he was told, was he not, in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Oh how the wickedness in her abounds on every hand and we see that really in the opening part of the chapter. We read through the chapter, the first 15 verses. It's a very solemn portion of Holy Scripture. The language that's being used throughout really. Verse 7, 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 past. Verse 12, our transgressions are multiplied before thee, our sins testify against us for our transgressions are with us and as for our iniquities we know them. How solemn a portion of Scripture it is!

What is the outcome of all of this? Well, there's separation, isn't there? There at the beginning in verse 2, your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you that He will not hear. And of course we see it there in Genesis chapter 3. No sooner have Adam and Eve sinned than cut off from all communion with God. God comes in the cool of the day, but the men, or the man and the woman, they hide themselves. They don't want communion with God. They try to hide from it. They're conscious of what they've done. They've sinned against God. And then, of course, at the end of that chapter, how solemn it is when they're thrust out of the garden, cast out, And God will protect the way now to the tree of life as man should seek to partake of that. All the awfulness then of man's sin.

And what does sin do? It cuts out communion with God. It cuts out prayer. That's what it says there in that second verse. He will not hear. your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear he will not hear all sin separates between God and his creature man that creature that he made to enjoy his God he's made for man

Was it not that great church father Augustine of Hippo who said, Thou hast made us for thyself? Our souls are restless till they rest in thee. And yet foolish men seek to satisfy themselves with all the passing temporal things of this present fallen world. And they don't seek the face of God, they don't pray to God. he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor or no one there to seek after him why? because men have such a regard for their own interests as fallen creatures they want to satisfy their base fallen nature, don't they? And the psalmist says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Now it's a barrier to our fellowship with God when we regard sin.

And what are men? We have that solemn passage, don't we, in the third chapter of the epistle to the Romans. So strange, really, when we consider the opening part of that epistle because Paul begins by defining the gospel that he's been separated to at least to preach and then having spoken of that gospel in the opening verses he goes on to describe the terrible nature of man's condition as a fallen creature and the extremities really of his sin, the perversion of man's ways and when we come to chapter 3 and there at verse 10 following he quotes doesn't he the language of the psalms as it is written and he quotes from two psalms he quotes from psalm 14 and psalm 53 which are very similar in their content

But it's an awful catalog that we have there in Romans 3 at verse 10, following of the sins of men. And as I said, in some ways we have it here in the language that is being employed. Look at verse 3, your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness, none calleth for justice. nor any pleadeth for truth, they trust in vanity and speak lies, they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity." Again at verse 13, "...in transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood."

There are these awful portions found in the word of God concerning man and the state of man and God sees it all He saw that there was no man no man as God had first created man the glory you see that belonged to Adam and to Eve as they come pristine from the hand of their creator God or the knowledge the man had he could name all the animals what a mind what a mind Adam must have had there at the beginning no sin has come and spoiled man and he's such a perverse creature now and the strange thing is of course that he's wedded to the idea that in some way, if needs be, he can help himself. He's wedded to the idea of a covenant of works as something to do.

I read those verses 3 and 4 and 13 where here we see the emphasis upon falsehood and lying. And it's what we have also in the psalm, isn't it? Psalm 116. And verse 11, all men are liars. Why is it? Because they are those who are the followers of the one who is the father of lies. Even the devil himself. It's the Lord Jesus, isn't it, who uses that expression as he addresses the Jews, those people who were so favoured throughout the Old Testament history. You only have I known, says God, of all the families of the earth. What privileges belonged unto them?

Often think of the words that we have there towards the end of the book of Psalms. Remember the language of the 147th Psalm, "...he showeth his words unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation. As for his judgments, they have not known them." Praise be to the Lord! What a people was this, and yet when the Saviour comes, when the Messiah appears, He comes unto His own, His own receive Him not, they reject Him. These favoured people, who had all the Old Testament Scriptures, the Covenants, and the Promises, and all the fullness of the Word of God, and what does the Lord say to them? Ye are of your father the devil. He was a liar from the beginning.

Men are wedded to the idea, you see, that they can do something. We shall be as gods. Well, that's what the devil says, isn't it? Ye shall be as gods. And that's what men practice, really. We shall be as gods. They think that they can do something to help themselves, to save themselves. And yet, what are they? They're vain creatures, really. proud creatures. Again, the language of the Psalms, Psalm 39 and verse 5, Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity, it says.

When we consider the scene, it's all dark. Darkness, deadness everywhere. Verse 9, Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us. We wait for light, but behold obscurity, for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the war like the blind, we grope as if we had no eyes, we stumble at noonday, as in the night we are in desolate places as dead men.

And you know, all of that really is the curse that has come because of sin. Going back to the books of Moses, remember in chapter 28 of Deuteronomy, we have the curses that will come where there is disobedience. What do we read there? In Deuteronomy 28, the curses for disobedience, And verse 29, Thou shalt grope at noonday as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways, and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.

The language you see is so similar really to what we have here in this 59th chapter of Isaiah. This is God's curse upon Israel, The Lord shall smite thee with madness and blindness and astonishment of heart, and thou shalt grope at noonday as the blind gropeth in the darkness.

What is it the prophet is saying? Well, he's preaching the law of Moses, of course. To the law and to the testament, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there's no light in them, says Isaiah elsewhere. The prophets appeal to Moses. and the Word of God that was given there at the beginning and it's part of that terrible curse when there is all that darkness and all that deadness where there's all that confusion and what confusion there is verse 14 judgment is turned away backward justice handed the fire off truth is falling in the streets equity cannot enter, yea truth faileth and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey and the Lord saw it and it is pleasing that there was no judgements all God sees the wickedness of men he saw it before the flood didn't he that it was great in the earth and every imagination of the thoughts of men were only evil continually and so we have these words here in the 16th verse God saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor therefore his arm brought salvation unto him and his righteousness it sustained him

I read also there in chapter 63 as well because We have a sort of repetition. In verse 5 don't we? It's virtually the same as what we have in our text. In 63.5 I looked and there was none to help and I wondered there was none to uphold therefore mine arm brought salvation unto me and my fury it upheld me.

And that's not vain repetition. God doesn't repeat himself in vain. Every word of God is the inspired word. It's a weighty word. It's a significant word. And it's interesting what we have there because it's a stronger statement in some ways. Look at what it says in that fifth verse of chapter 63. The beginning it says, I looked and there was none to help. I looked, says God, and none to help.

And yet, man in his vanity thinks he can help himself. He thinks he can do it himself, he's wedded to the idea. that he'll earn his way to heaven if there is a heaven. He doesn't need any help. But how different is the conclusion God comes to. Man is one then who's not only wicked, but he's weak. And he doesn't recognize, he doesn't realize his impotence. He has nothing that he can do. Why? He's dead. Dead in trespasses and sin.

there's only one who can save of course and again there in that 65th chapter we read of that one don't we? in verse 3 I have trodden the winepress alone and of the people there was none with me for this one that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bosra this that is glorious in his apparel traveling in the greatness of his strength the one that speaks righteousness the one who is mighty to say

What a contrast we see here. Remarkable contrast. And it's the language that's being employed and it's employed in both of these passages. Here in verse 16 and again there in verse 5 of chapter 63 it says how God wondered. He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. And again That word in verse 5 of chapter 63, I wondered that there was none to appall. It's an interesting word. It's an interesting word. It's a strong word. And it has the idea, really, of wonderment in the sense of being appalled. A sense of desolation, really.

In fact, the same word is used in the 143rd Psalm, at verse 4, where it says, My heart within me is desolate. Think of the imagery there. We can carry that imagery over to God. I know God is not a man, as we are. Although man is made in God's image, God is God. God is the unchanging one amongst other things those remarkable attributes that belong to God but when we think that God wandered and that word wandering having the idea of a sense of desolation God's seeing the sea the state of affairs amongst the children of men and what is it that God wanders at? there was no intercessor there was no intercessor.

We have it in that portion that I referred to in Romans 3 where the Apostle is quoting from those Psalms. What does it say there in verse 11? There is none that seeketh after God. There is none that seeketh after God. Or remember what we're told in verse 2 how that sins separate and he will not hear the awfulness of sin and yet the Lord Jesus says men ought always to pray and not to faint I'm sure if there's anything of the grace of God in us we we will pray and yet sometimes how hard it is to pray and how God has to deal with us to bring us to our senses and make us to pray.

And then when we find ourselves in those situations, those circumstances where it is hard, and we scarcely know where to begin to pray, we want to pray and we can't pray. All we can do is come before Him with our sighs and our groanings. The ways of the Lord are so Strange. He will have us to pray. He must make us pray. And when he deals with us and things go contrary for us and we find ourselves in deep places and we're troubled in our own minds and we want to lay these things before the Lord. The strangeness of the ways of God.

But I've said really enough with regards to the wickedness and the weakness of man and I want to turn to the positive side really. I want us to consider something of Christ as that one who of course is the great intercessor for his people. God says here he wondered. He wondered that there was no intercessor. But there is an intercessor. remember the great desire of Job, how Job longed after one to be an intercessor, a mediator, a daisman, that's a word that's used in Job 9 and verse 33, neither is there any daisman betwixt us who might lay his hand upon us both a daisman, a man to come and be the umpire as you were on a certain day and to stand between God and poor Job. That's what he longed for. And the answer is given, of course, in the person, the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the great high priest of our profession. We have these words, the words that I said we'd take principally for our text, but see what follows then.

And we have the beginning of that next clause in verse 16, the word therefore. he saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor therefore his arm brought salvation unto him and his righteousness it sustained him for he put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation upon his head and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak

Remember how the chapter opens, the opening words of this remarkable chapter, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that he cannot save, neither is ear heavy that he cannot hear. But then from verse 2 right the way through to verse 15, we have this awful description of the state of affairs with men, or what is man.

there's a psalm, he said, Thou art mindful of him, the son of man, that thou visitest him what a word is this, therefore therefore the Lord himself will act the Lord himself has acted in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ or do we not see it here, the deity of the Saviour, He is God He's God manifest in the flesh, the great mystery of godliness. He's God but he's manifest in the flesh, he's a man, he's a real man. And that great mystery, that in the person of Jesus of Nazareth we witness two natures. and in every action he is one person one person but two natures in every action is God in every action is man it's incomprehensible to us but it's a truth of scripture it's the fulfillment of the great promise of God

if this chapter begins with that word behold behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot save well remember another behold that we have previously here in this prophecy back in chapter 7 behold a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son and shall call his name Emmanuel God with us All these beholds that we have, time and again, don't we? Chapter 14, verse 10, Behold, the Lord will come with strong hand and His arm shall rule for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him, His work before Him. How the Lord comes. How the Lord comes, how He appears. All the wonder of that coming unto us. A child is born unto us, a son is given. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. It's the great promise of the Gospel, isn't it? The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we have it here as we come to the end of the chapter.

Verse 20, the Redeemer shall come to Zion. and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob saith the Lord. It is God that we are brought to consider and we are brought to consider God in all the fullness of His glorious being, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. This is the God of salvation, the God who has appointed salvation. the God who accomplishes salvation, the God who applies salvation. All the electing love of the Father, you see, He has appointed salvation. The glorious work of the Son of God manifests in the flesh here on earth when He accomplished salvation by the sacrifice of Himself. And then in this day of grace, how the Holy Ghost is He that comes to make it such a blessed reality. we read through the opening part of the chapter it seems so dark man's wickedness so great men really though they fool themselves and think that they can do something to help themselves yet man so weak and so impotent therefore his arm brought salvation it says or the Lord God himself will do the work

And again, when we make the comparison between the two verses, you remember that repetition in chapter 63? And note the emphasis that we have there, the end of that fifth verse, therefore mine own arm. There's an emphasis, isn't there? Therefore mine own, my very arm, says God. Broad salvation unto me. God does the work, that's our comfort. Salvation is of the Lord. His right hand, His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory. Always accomplished it, not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord.

You know, the language that we have the end of this 16th verse, therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness it sustained him. It's similar, isn't it, to what we read concerning the Lord Jesus at the end of Scripture. There in the book of the Revelation, and what we're told in chapter 19, and verse 11 John says I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war his eyes were as a flame of fire you know it's the same one that he saw in that glorious vision at the beginning of the chapter isn't it at the beginning of the book in chapter 1 of Revelation his eyes were as a flame of fire on his head were many crowns And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself, and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.

Oh, it's the same, isn't it? The same that we read of here back in Isaiah. In verse 17, he put on righteousness as a breastplate and helmet of salvation upon his head. He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak. Isn't the Lord Jesus referred to in Hebrews as that one who is the captain? He's the captain of salvation. And what of those who are his followers? What of his disciples? What of those who are believers in this Lord Jesus Christ? Well, they are soldiers.

and God has provided for his people, he's provided for them a spiritual armor, we know that 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 8 let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and love for and help it the hope of salvation have a much fuller account don't we there at the end of Ephesians chapter 6 the whole armor of God the various parts of that armor that the Lord God himself has provided for his people the weapons of our warfare all the weapons of our warfare are not carnal says Paul but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds

that armor that we read of then in chapter 6 of Ephesians it's a spiritual armor and we know that because really when we come to the end of that portion and we have in the past gone through the Christian's armor but when we come to the end of that portion there is such an emphasis upon the place of prayer the old hymn says concerning the armor each piece put on with prayer, and so Paul there in Ephesians 6, how does he conclude having spoken of the various parts of the armor? Your loins girt about with truth, the breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and then he says, praying always, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, and for me that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak."

Now, the great apostle himself, he needed their prayers. They needed to pray for themselves. That's how they put on their heavenly armor, but they needed also to pray for him. Isn't prayer the principal weapon that we have in all this, this conflict?

with sin, and it's all around us, the world lies in wickedness, all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world, it lies in wickedness, it lies in the wicked one. Satan himself, our great adversary, and that sin that's within us yet, our old nature, that fallen nature, and the conflict that we feel, the old man against the new man of grace, and Paul crying out, O, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

How we are those who must be looking to the Lord. If we're those who are the soldiers of Jesus Christ, we must follow in his footsteps. He was the man of prayer. who in the days of his flesh, when he offered up prayer and supplication with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared, though he were a son, yet learned the obedience by the things that he suffered. Aren't these things all written for us, for our learning, for our comfort?

All prayer is our great weapon, really, our principal weapon. Wrestling prayer can wonders do, bring relief in greatest straits. Prayer can force a passage through iron bars and brazen gates. We just sang it in the hymn. We sing it, but what do we know of it? When we're alone and we're trying to pray to God and we're struggling in our prayers and our prayers seem so weak and we wonder sometimes are they real prayers at all?

But you see again and again we're simply cast on this, we're cast on the Lord. He says here, doesn't he? He saw there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. But God has laid help, and He's laid help upon one that is mighty. And that one who is able to save unto the uttermost all that come to God by Him, we come by Him. we look to Christ as our great mediator our advocate, our high priest, he's there in heaven but he's not left us comfortless, he's given us the Holy Spirit and how he helps in all our infirmities when we know not what to pray for as we ought and he makes intercession with those groanings that cannot be uttered or the Lord comes and the Lord comes in his own ways, he comes to us in strange ways, mysterious ways. Yet He brings us to this that we're completely and utterly cast upon Himself.

He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him and His righteousness it sustained Him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head, and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.

Oh, that we might know what it is to serve unto this One who is indeed the great Captain of salvation, that One who has accomplished all the salvation of His people. Oh, the Lord grant then that we might be those who would be followers of this Christ and take up our cross daily, denying ourselves and following in His steps. The Lord be pleased to bless His word to us. Amen.