The Wicked Had to Acknowledge the Disturbing Fact That
There Was No Intercessor, No Savior Among Men.
The only Savior was the Lord Himself. In looking down upon earth at the wretched state of man, God saw an appalling picture. The whole earth was depraved, gripped by a spirit of wickedness. There was no intercessor, no one who could save it. Only God Himself could be the intercessor, the One to pay the penalty for sin and provide salvation for the people. For this reason, the Lord stepped into the world to save the human race through His mighty power and righteousness. This He did through His Son, His Servant, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ alone made intercession for the transgressions of all mankind (Isaiah 53:12).
The Sad Truth About the
Wicked Earth
“15bThe Lord saw all the evil and was displeased to find no steps taken against sin. 16He saw no one was helping you and wondered that no one intervened. Therefore, he himself stepped in to save you through his mighty power and justice.[1] (Isaiah 59:15b-16)
The Lord Scanned the Earth for An Intercessor:
He Found No One, So, The Lord Himself Set Out to
Intercede, To Save His People.
V “Therefore, will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto
death: and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors” (Is. 53:12).
V “Who is
he that condemneth? It is Christ that
died, yea rather, that has risen again, who is even at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercession for us” (Ro. 8:34).
V “Wherefore in all things it behooved him to
be made like unto his brethren, that
he might be a merciful and faithful high priest [intercessor] in things pertaining to God, to make
reconciliation for the sins of the people” (He. 2:17).
V “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ
Jesus” (He. 3:1).
V “Seeing then that we have a great high priest
[intercessor], that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold fast our profession. For
we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities
but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin” (He.
4:14–15).
V “For every high priest taken from among men
is ordained for men in things pertaining
to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: Who can have
compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he
himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof he ought, as for
the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. And no man taketh this honor
unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also, Christ glorified not himself to be made a high
priest; but he that said unto him, thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee”
(He. 5:1–5).
V “Which hope
we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth
into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek” (He.
6:19–20).
V “Wherefore he is able also to save them to
the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them. For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens, Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer
up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this, he
did once when he offered up himself” (He. 7:25–27).
V “But Christ being come a high priest of good
things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, which
is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but
by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. For if the
blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (He. 9:11–14).
V “And having a high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” (He. 10:21–22).[2]
The Sad Truth About the Wicked Earth
“15bThe Lord saw all the evil and was displeased to find no steps taken against sin. 16He saw no one was helping you and wondered that no one intervened. Therefore, he himself stepped in to save you through his mighty power and justice.[3] (Isaiah 59:15b-16)
It seemed a dark hour for the world. Evidently, a dead nation cannot arise of itself any more than a dead man. It is a time of wonderment. Great men often arise for great occasions, but there is no man, that is, no mere man, equal to this occasion.[4]
Salvation By God Through Man
This text contains, in part, the confession
of social iniquity. “Truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil is
accounted mad. There is no judgment”—that is, no social righteousness, no sense
of the “right” manifestly ruling in the common relations of life. God looked
down upon this degenerate and hopeless condition. He knew how far the evil
spread until the whole people was corrupted, and there was no man able to plead
against the prevailing evil; no days-man to stand up for righteousness and
truth; no intercessor to check the on-coming judgments and plead for their
withdrawal—none such as Moses, or as Aaron, or as Phinehas. As no human
intercessor could be found among the exiles, God himself wrought salvation;
“his arm brought salvation unto him.”
The Point Suggested Is This: Social and moral evils, being but
inadequately dealt with by man, demand Divine intervention; but the Divine
operations for redemption from evil are committed to men, as agents, to apply
and carry out.
I.
Man Cannot Save Man.
At every age, the experiment has been tried.
In every form of the trial, it has proved a failure. There have been a vast
variety of religions in the world; they were all just this—man trying to save
man. Great teachers and reformers have appeared—they were men trying to save
man. There have been philosophical, moral, educational, scientific, ceremonial,
and artistic systems, but not one of them was ever anything more than this—man
trying to save man. The issue of nineteenth-century humanity schemes will
exactly repeat the old story; it has been proved, over and over again, until we
wonder that anyone should be foolish enough to try a fresh experiment, that man
cannot save man.
II.
God Alone Can Save Man.
This is stating the truth again, with an
important addition. It is entirely a question of a man saving himself and God
saving him. There is no third party to the question. And God can save man. He
has always been finding out man’s extremity and making it his gracious opportunity,
ever saving tribes, cities, societies, families, and individuals. God, the
Redeemer, is the name for God that is blazoned on the history of every age and
clime. “God can save man;” is the great truth written in the extensive record
of the whole human race. Spared for four thousand years that he might try to
save himself, man learned, at last, to put away the schemes in which he had
trusted, and then, when the fulness of the times had come, God sent forth his
Son, and called his name Jesus Immanuel, because he was to be in the world,
“God himself saving men from their sins.”
III.
God Only Saves Man by Man.
One of the most challenging truths for which
to get men’s acceptance is the truth that man’s salvation is a moral miracle,
for the accomplishment of which man is made the agent. God’s salvation for
moral beings is not a display of majestic force, as is his correction of
disorder in his world of created things;
it is the exertion of moral power upon them through moral influences and moral
agents. The great deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian bondage was
manifestly God’s redemption, all together God’s; and yet even in that case, God
only saved man by man. He found an instrument and agent by whom to carry out
his purposes. The man Moses is prominent throughout the scene, yet he never
stands before God; he is only the agent.
IV.
Illustrate
Further by The Salvation from Babylon.
In that case, too, a man was found. Cyrus was the Divine agent. The law is working in all the society around us. God is in the midst of men, saving still. But he is only saving men through human agencies. Merely human forces cannot master social and moral evils since man cannot, of himself, reach those more profound religious evils that lie at the root of the social ones. God is saving men. This is the glory of our present-day life, with all its seeming failures, oppressive burdens, and amazing self-will. He is saving men, and we are to be his witnesses, co-workers together with him. As we preach Christ to men, we have no power to save men; but as we lift Christ up in the sight of men, we become God’s agents, and through our words of faith and persuasion, God moves and sways careless hearts and wins sinners unto himself. This is our honor, our trust, our sacred burden. God would save this country, but he will only save it by us—by the Christian people. We must prophesy and preach to these dry bones, and then only will the breath of Heaven give them life. We must spend the strength of our manhood in giving, preaching, visiting, and pleading, and then only will the ends of the land see the salvation of the Lord. —R. T.[5]
Prayer: The Lord Scanned the Earth for An Intercessor
Father God, we look to you for our salvation.
We look to your alone Lord for our help and deliverance in this dark, wicked
world. The world Lord has fallen to an evil sway, the influence of evil has
overtaken our lives, and we cannot stand under the weight of the present
darkness. Therefore, we ask you, Father God, to rescue us, to step in and redeem
us from the bondage of sin to which we have allowed ourselves to succumb.
Father God, because of our ignorance or our rebellion, our sin has separated us
from your love and grace; therefore, we need your mercy to deliver us. We have
no one to blame but ourselves; thus, we need help beyond ourselves. We do not
have the ability or intelligence to think through our sins to overcome them. Our
sinful nature Lord is a matter of what we were born with, and we cannot run
from ourselves. What we can do, Lord, is run to you and call on your name to
deliver us. Therefore, again, Father God, we call you to deliver us from our sin
and the dying world in which we live. Please, Lord, save us.
In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.
The Whole Earth Was Depraved, Gripped by A Spirit of Wickedness.
There Was No Intercessor, No One Who Could Save It.
Only God Himself Could Be the Intercessor,
The One to Pay the Penalty for Sin and Provide Salvation for The People.
[1] Taylor, Kenneth Nathaniel. 1997. The Living Bible,
Paraphrased. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House.
[2] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 2005. Isaiah: Chapters
36–66. Vol. II. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible.
Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
[3] Taylor, Kenneth Nathaniel. 1997. The Living Bible,
Paraphrased. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House.
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