The Good News of Isaiah 61:8 = Justice, Truth and Mercy

The Good News of Isaiah 61:8 = Justice, Truth and Mercy.

“I, the Lord Yahweh, love justice and have deep affection for fair dealing. I hate robbery with violence, the plunder of wickedness, and a meaningless burnt offering. I will reward them for their suffering with my faithfulness and truth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with them.” (Isaiah 61:8).

JUSTICE. The Hebrew word used here is “mishpat” (mish-pawt), and is often translated “saving justice.” Mishpat is a guiding light to the Biblical ethic and world view. Mishpat is a central quality of God’s character and foundational to a flourishing society. Mishpat is used over 200 times in the Hebrew Bible, because each and every human being is sacred, has dignity, and is abundantly worthwhile. As the Lord dictated to Moses in Deuteronomy 16:20, justice is to be pursued above all else… “Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Since all are made in God’s image, all people are to be treated equitably and fairly; given their human rights in freedom; advocated for what is properly due to others as fellow human beings; wisely defend others who are being treated unfairly, including the powerless, the vulnerable, and those who are unable to defend themselves; exercising the righteous judgments that reflect the character of God. “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord Yahweh, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24). The Lord God declares through Isaiah once again that He loves justice, He delights in justice, and it brings Him great pleasure. Logically, then, God hates any injustice in the world, whether it is robbery through violence, or dishonesty, or any other behavior which does not treat people with love and respect.

Burnt Offering. In the Lord’s scale of righteousness, it appears He considers empty ritual sacrifice to be spiritually equivalent to moral wickedness. If religious worship and outward devotion don’t contain true justice, fervent obedience, and genuine faith, look at what the Lord has to say:

1. Amos 5:21-24: “I hate, I despise your religious feasts. I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! 
2. Jeremiah 7:2-8: “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!’ If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. 
3. Isaiah 1:11-17: The multitude of your sacrifices… What are they to me? says the Lord. I have more than enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened animals. I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations… I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of hearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will  hide my eyes from you; even if you offered many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop  doing wrong; learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” 

TRUTH AND FAITHFULNESS. The Hebrew word here is “emet,” another foundational word in Scripture meaning primarily either truth or faithfulness. Emet has also been translated secondarily as stability, certainty, trustworthiness, constancy.  In Hebrew, “faithfulness” and “truth” are interchangeable, and the literal meaning is: True to His word; steadfast loyalty; trustworthy; truthful about promises; reliable; constant and dependable; act in good faith; certain in commitment; His word is His bond. Many Biblical scholars believe that John 1:14, where John states that Jesus is “full of grace and truth,” is an intentional repetition of the phrase in Yahweh’s important self-revelation (Exodus 34:6), “abounding in love and faithfulness.” John 1 no doubt hearkens back to Yahweh’s nature in Exodus 34, flatly stating that Jesus is of the very same eternal nature as Yahweh, the glorious God of the Hebrew Bible. The fact that the Hebrews saw truth and faithfulness as interchangeable points to God’s character, that He is true to His word, true to His nature, that God keeps truth certainly and with stability and trustworthiness. God is literally, truly faithful.

God is Truth – the One who created Reality and established it on the earth; the universal Fact that founded the world; the divine Reference Point for all that is true; the one fundamental essence of trueness.

God is Faithfulness – the One who is perfectly loyal to His righteous nature; the Being who is purely committed to His trustworthiness; He who is permanently, unfailingly true to His promises.

TRUTH: (Hebrew, “emet;” Greek, “aletheia”) Truth is the only absolute in the world. If everything else in the world falls apart, only Truth will remain standing. The building blocks of all creation; the framework upon which we build our faith; the true Reality that has established the world’s reality; that which can never be truly altered or changed; that which is universally trustworthy as facts of life; the foundation of what is truly real in our experience; the plumblines from which to measure our lives; that which is common knowledge in God’s mind; that which lines up with God’s perspectives; established facts from God as opposed to a person’s changeable opinions or preferences; that which is solid and certain as opposed to a lie, deceit, an illusion or superstition; the tangible fundamentals issued forth from the intangible mind of God. Truth is always true even when discounted or disbelieved. Since the Almighty God is the ultimate source of all truth, then it follows that the Father God is Truth, the Lord Jesus is Truth, and the Holy Spirit is Truth.

“One word of truth outweighs the world.” (Alexandre Solzhenitsyn, Russian author, early 20th century);

AMEN. There is a much-used Hebrew word in the Hebrew Bible that points to its root word “truth” or “emet.”  The Greek in the New Testament also picked it up and used it for “truth” as well. That common Hebrew word is “Amen.” This biblical word basically means: This is truth! I agree that this is true! Yes! We heartily accept and approve of what was said! We are assured that this is certainly true! So be it! We believe this is trustworthy and we take it to heart! The word Amen is also a formal way to conclude and affirm a Jewish blessing. Jewish law requires individuals to answer Amen whenever they hear a blessing recited.

Amen! Amen! When this was exclaimed after a reading or a prayer, just take what is meant by Amen and double it in intensity. The double Amen means: We absolutely agree that this is the certain truth! These are, without a doubt, trustworthy words and can have authority in our lives! O Yes, most certainly Yes! May this be the absolute truth! We believe these words with all our heart, mind and soul! These words are without question God’s truth! These words we can most assuredly trust in! So be it, so be it! We see this double Amen fully on display in Nehemiah 8, when the people of Israel heard the Torah read and explained, and they were so struck to the heart that they cried out in unison, Amen! Amen! (Nehemiah 8:6). Amen! Amen! is often translated as Truly, Truly, or Verily, Verily in the New Testament.

CHRIST IS THE AMEN. Amen is a descriptive divine title Christ gave to Himself in Revelation 3:14: “These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness…”

• His self-given title of Amen is fulfillment of the prophetic title given to the Lord in Isaiah 65:16, “The God of Amen.”  (translated widely as “The God of truth”).
• By giving Himself that title, Jesus is declaring that, not only is He full of truth (John 1:14), and that He came into the world to testify to the truth (John 18:37), but also that He is The Truth, Truth incarnate, Truth-in-the-flesh; He is the final accomplishment of the promise of God; He is the most certain fact in the universe, the world’s sure thing; He is the fulfillment of God’s purpose and will; He is the ultimate Yes! to questions about truth; He is the concluding Word of God; He is the Blessed Assurance; He is the Last Word; He is the Great Amen to all the godly prayers ever spoken; He Himself is the word of approval that completes the Father’s plan.

“… and I will establish with them an everlasting covenant.” The idea and reality of the covenant was very common in the ancient world. A covenant was a formal agreement between two or more parties that demanded loyalty to what was promised in that pact. The covenant was seen as a binding contract between whoever signed on to the agreement. A covenant represented promises made that demanded loyalty to the condition of the agreement. There were political covenants, economic covenants, covenants between families and tribes, and even marriages were considered covenants of faithfulness and unconditional love.

Testament or Covenant? Practically every time we see the word ”testament” in the King James Version of the Bible, the more correct translation would be ”covenant.” If it weren’t for the KJV of the Bible, the Scripture would probably be known to us as including the “Old Covenant” and the “New Covenant.” Better yet, it would be even more accurate to call the Older Testament the Hebrew Bible, and the New Testament the “Newer Testament,” since the New Testament is founded on the earlier covenants found in the Hebrew Bible, God’s eternal agreements established with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses, and with David. How about we put the title “Old Testament” on the back shelf anyway, since it is so poorly named “old,” which implies something that is expired, out of date, past its usage date, ancient and irrelevant, something to set aside because it is hobbled with age. This Newer Covenant established in Jesus Messiah completes those earlier permanent but incomplete covenants and does not replace them in any way. As promised, God has remained faithful to His everlasting covenants in the Hebrew Bible by sending His Son to make His blood sacrifice for all of mankind. Christ fulfilled the intended meaning of those earlier covenants by promising forgiveness, salvation, and transformation through His Holy Spirit.

Isaiah and the New Covenant. God had already made all those earlier covenants with His people as reported in the Hebrew Bible, so when Isaiah prophesied in 61:8 that the Lord declared He “will make an eternal covenant” in the future, what else could Isaiah be referring to but the New Covenant that was prophesied later by Jeremiah… “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord Yahweh, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord Yahweh. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord Yahweh: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jer. 31:31-33). All through the Hebrew Bible, the people of Israel were covenant people, loved by their faithful God with His eternal promises that He would never leave them or forsake them. The earlier covenants between God and His chosen people were eternal, they will always exist. The Lord Jesus’ life and death and resurrection did nothing to change that.

“Drink this, all of you. This is My blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:28).

Many Bible translators believe that the better rendering of “new” is “renewed.” This blood of Jesus seals the earlier covenants, it ratifies them, it validates them, it completely fulfills the earlier covenants between God and His people. This New Covenant spoken of at the Last Supper finally reveals the mystery of what all those earlier covenants were hinting at and pointing to. Let’s let Dr. Brad Young (Ph. D. in Biblical Languages from Hebrew University) have the last word here… “These words from Jesus are said in the context of the Passover celebration which re-enacts the redemption from slavery in Egypt and focuses on the blood of the Passover lamb. The covenantal relationship is renewed as Jesus connected His redemptive work to the renewal of the covenantal faith experience.”