Isaiah 59:20: A Day of Salvation

A main thread running through the book of Isaiah is the message of salvation.

It says in the Hebrew Bible:

“All flesh will come to bow down before me says the Lord. Then they shall go forth and behold the corpses of the men who have transgressed against me. For their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” (Isaiah 66:24).

“His own arm brought salvation to him, and His righteousness upheld him” (Isaiah 59:15-16).

“A Redeemer shall come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob declares the Lord“ (Isaiah 59:20).

Although God is using the Assyrians to destroy Israel, and will use the Babylonians to destroy Judah, he intends to save a remnant of his people. “A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob to the mighty God”(Isaiah 10:21). They will not be “as Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:9) but it will be a nation “whose stump remains when it is felled” (Isaiah 6:11-13).

Gentile nations… To the remnant will be added people of all nations. “All nations will stream to” the mountain of the Lord (Isaiah 2:2-4).

“Thus says the Lord, ‘In a favourable time I have answered you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you…'” (Isaiah 49:8).

In parallel to the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament also refers to the concept of salvation:

Paul stresses that the saved will be made up of both Jews and Gentiles, and among the passages he quotes are two from Isaiah (Romans 15:12, Isaiah 11:10,Isaiah 42:4). Paul says, “Behold now is ‘the acceptable time’, behold now is the ‘day of salvation'” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace, and brings good news of happiness, and announces salvation, and says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns'” (Isaiah 52:7, Romans 10:15).