Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 137th episode. In this episode I want to study Isaiah chapter 63. The previous chapter concluded with a discussion of God’s salvation. This chapter expresses how God comes towards His people in ways of mercy and deliverance. As a consequence of God’s mercy, His people meet Him with their devotions and their affections. These prayers of gratitude will extend on into the close of the next chapter. This gratitude is founded on the acknowledgement of the great favors which God bestows on His people. When you consider these blessings in light of our own unworthiness, this perspective magnifies the favors greatly. Understanding God’s love for you while being honest about your own fallen nature reveals the unmatched compassion and concern God has for His people. When Israel arrived at this state of humility they went to the Lord in prayer, imploring Him to make His presence known in their distress. A repentant heart pleads for God’s mercy and seeks relationship with Him. In their prayers, Israel expressed genuine desire towards God. They also sought to report the insolence of their enemies. Devoting yourself to God with this kind of affection teaches you to embrace His promises with active faith. Your devotion to God will improve across time. As you sharpen the practice of prayer and praise, God’s promises will be revealed with increasing clarity. These promises will be of great utility to you during times of trial or temptation. Let’s being with verses 1-6:
Isa 63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.”
Isa 63:2 Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress?
Isa 63:3 “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel.
Isa 63:4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come.
Isa 63:5 I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me.
Isa 63:6 I trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
This passage opens a window into God’s glorious victory over Israel’s enemies through Cyrus. In this instance the focus is on the nation called Edom. You can think of the Edomites as people who cheered and laughed when Jerusalem was crushed by the Babylonians. They boasted in the misfortune of the Israelites. They rejoiced over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin. The Edomites looted whatever wealth was left over and they cut off any escaping Jews who might have fled to Edom in an effort to get away from the Babylonians. Kicking God’s people while they were down sealed the fate of Edom so they would fall by the sword of Cyrus same as Babylon. This conflict between the Edomites and Israel had ancient origins in the enmity between Esau and his brother Jacob. The ethical poverty of that relationship created a ripple effect which resulted in multiple conflagrations throughout history. King David rose to fame by destroying 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. This longstanding conflict makes Edom a functional representation of what it looks like to be God’s enemy. Witnessing the destruction of Edom gives us insight into the destruction of those who posture themselves as enemies of God.
But this prophecy of God defeating His enemies is not solely focused on Edom. It also describes the victory of Jesus obtained by the grace of God over our own spiritual enemies. In Revelation Christ appears with His robe dipped in blood and His name is called The Word of God. Jesus conquered the principalities and powers of evil on our behalf through His redemptive work on the cross. It’s important when you imagine Christ crucified that you don’t view Him as a victim. The opening passage of this chapter gives us the proper lens through which to view Him. Isaiah frames it as a mighty hero returning in triumph from a bloody engagement. The hero is traveling in the greatness of His strength, altogether unbroken, despite being smeared with blood and dirt. Jesus is triumphant and victorious on the cross. The resurrected Christ is strong, stately, and full of majesty.
The prophet poses a question which provokes more than a simple answer. He asks: Who is this? A similar question was asked by Joshua when he saw the Angel of the Lord with his sword drawn. Are you for us or for our adversaries? The question carries with it a tone of adoration. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? But the mystery doesn’t end there. Isaiah’s question is packaged with another which essentially says: Why are you covered in blood and dirt? Why do you look like a servant and not a king? This is one of the fundamental questions which separates Christians from all others. Is Christ who He says He is? The historicity of Jesus is rarely disputed by serious scholars. But the Jews expected a mighty conqueror to defeat their enemies and restore the Kingdom of God – not a suffering servant who willingly allowed Himself to be crucified. That’s one of the most intriguing mysteries of Jesus. Alexander the Great conquered nearly all of the known world yet most people know little more than his name. Jesus taught, healed, and loved people through a three year ministry which ended in execution, yet His life altered the course of history for all of human civilization.
The Christians understand this mystery because they believe the Suffering Servant is in fact mighty God Himself. Christ crucified is a picture of our glorious Redeemer lowering Himself so that we might have communion with Him. This is the answer which makes the most sense of history. It is the same answer which God revealed to Isaiah’s question: Who is this? It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save. The hero returning in triumph is the Savior. God destroyed Israel’s enemies and saved them from captivity. Jesus destroyed our spiritual enemies and saved us from captivity to sin. God claims to speak in righteousness which means He will make good on every word that He has spoken. If you set God’s words against His actions you will see that what He does ratifies what He says and what He says justifies what He does. God claims to be mighty to save which means His power is effective to make true His promised redemption regardless of the challenges or the enemies who stand in the way of it. No matter how powerful we are in life death still takes us as if we were nothing. Emperors and kings are buried in the same dirt as their servants. In this sense death has made prisoners of us all. But not Jesus. The resurrection of Christ is an expression of God’s all-encompassing power such that even death itself cannot stand in His way. Christ alone is mighty to save.
In addition to revealing Himself as Savior, God also explains how He came to appear covered in blood and dirt. He says He has trodden the wine-press alone. Comparing Himself to someone who treads the wine-press is meant to show His willingness to lower Himself for the sake of sinners. In the book of Revelation the wine-press is used as an illustration for the wrath of God. All of us deserve to be cast into the wine-press because all of us are sinners. But to save us from this fate, Christ took the wrath of God onto Himself. People who make themselves to be enemies of God reject this salvation and share the same fate as Satan – who is destroyed by Christ. We see the wrath of God poured out on His enemies throughout the Old Testament. It was bloody work, there’s no doubt about that. But you already know reality gets awfully bloody and horrible when enough people give themselves over to evil.
God is victorious in His wrath purely by His own strength. He is alone in the effort. For example, God gave Cyrus the strength to defeat Babylon and liberate Israel – not the other way around. God didn’t need Cyrus to accomplish His purpose. He simply chose to use Cyrus. The Israelites were weak and helpless, they definitely weren’t going to accomplish liberty by themselves. They were so despondent they wouldn’t even rise up to join with Cyrus against their oppressors. When it comes to our own salvation we are powerless as well. There’s nothing we can do to make ourselves fit enough to stand before God on our own merit. We need a Savior.
When everything else fails you can always count on God’s providence. He reveals the arm of His glorious power when all other helpers come up short. To really wrap our minds around the glory of God’s grace we must remember that in His efforts to save us not only was there none to help, but there were many who sought to oppose Him and stop Him if they could. This willingness and ability to accomplish His work alone was most clearly expressed in His crucifixion. At one point all of His disciples forsook Him and fled. Christ defeated our spiritual enemies in single combat. He triumphed over principalities and powers by the divine light that resides within Himself. Think of the untold billions of Christians who have lived and died in the past 2,000 years. Now remember that there was one moment on the cross where the only Christian in existence was Jesus of Nazareth.
His battle against our spiritual enemies is undertaken by His own zeal. His zeal is composed of wrath against His enemies and love for His people. God’s wrath is invoked by His own anger, His own fury, and He alone treads down His enemies. One of His major motivations for liberating Israel was His own fury against Babylon. Babylonian idolatry, sorcery, pride, cruelty, and mistreatment of God’s people worked together to invoke His anger. Across time the Babylonians only became more wicked and insolent until they stirred up God’s anger into fury. Jesus was carried forward in His own work by the zeal He had for the holy honor of the Father – and for the well-being of His people. Original sin occurred when Satan made his attempt at both the throne of God and the heart of humanity. The daring arrogance of Satan started a spiritual war to undermine the honor of God and the holiness of humanity. Christ claimed victory in this war by honoring the Father and atoning for humanity in a single act of self-sacrificial love.
The zeal which colors the work of Christ is made up of two motivations. One is the righteous indignation He has against His enemies. The day of vengeance is written on the heart of God. It is fixed in the eternal counsels. Consequently Christ could not forget it and it pushed Him forward. It’s the day when justice is served for all the evil things that have been done in the dark recesses of the world. It’s like when you see something horrible happen and you feel as if there needs to be justice. It weighs on your heart and in many cases it motivates us to undertake years of work to see it through. Imagine being God and knowing full-well every evil thing that’s ever been done. Imagine the weight of that on your spirit. God’s heart is set on the day which is fixed for divine vengeance. Sometimes we think there is no justice, but that’s simply because the patience of God has long deferred it. Had Christ not opened the way for us to access the means of grace then all of us would be under the hammer.
Another motivation for God’s zeal is the compassion He has for His people. In His eternal wisdom God has appointed specific times for deliverance. There was a year set apart for Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt and He kept that appointment down to the day. God also predetermined how long Israel must remain in exile under Babylon – namely seventy years. The incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ was also predestined. Even before Christ’s work on the cross God called His people redeemed. Their future redemption was so certain that it might as well have happened already. As much as God desires justice on the day of vengeance, He much more desires salvation on the day of redemption. He speaks of His people’s redemption with great pleasure and anticipation. When you invest your faith in Jesus your salvation becomes so certain that it might as well have happened already. Although we must patiently await our day of redemption, we should continue to attend God’s promises with our prayers.
We can rest assured that Jesus Christ will obtain complete victory over all. Much of His work is already done, as indicated by the blood which stains His garments in Revelation. Christ’s victory over His enemies has been foretold all throughout the Old Testament even as far back as the early chapters of Genesis. The wicked who turn against God inevitably become drunk by the cup of fury. This means their counsels become unsteady and their sense making apparatus begins to come apart. Unless they repent and reform, there’s no hope for them to achieve any lasting wisdom. Their ability to recognize truth will break down, and their strength will fail soon after. That is the fate for those who oppose God, for who has strength sufficient to stand up against omnipotence? Let’s read verses 7-14:
Isa 63:7 I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
Isa 63:8 For he said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely.” And he became their Savior.
Isa 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
Isa 63:10 But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.
Isa 63:11 Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit,
Isa 63:12 who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name,
Isa 63:13 who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble.
Isa 63:14 Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.
It was common for the people of Israel to look back and review their history with God in their prayers. This practice was helpful for reminding them about all the moments of God’s providence. In this passage Isaiah was remembering some past events where God had come through for His people. This thankful recognition is what precedes Isaiah’s pleas for compassion towards Israel in her deplorable state. When you pray, it’s helpful to preface your requests with thanksgiving and with remembrance of all the times God has provided for you. Not only does this kind of prayer properly honor God, but it also helps prevent you from adopting a distorted perspective. It’s really easy to forget all of the good things God has done for you and begin to feel abandoned. This is what people mean when they say count your blessings. If you overlook the ways in which God has blessed you then you’ll become bitter and resentful – which will only make your situation worse than it needs to be.
All of God’s prophets had one thing in common in that they all made mention of Him. It was their job to bring the people’s focus away from their sins and back toward God. We can see that Isaiah took great delight in making mention of the goodness of God. Isaiah was prepared and willing to do the difficult work of calling Israel to repentance, but he actually enjoyed speaking about the goodness of God. It’s like he could never get enough of it. I suppose that’s how we would feel if we were given direct revelation of the Holy One Himself. Isaiah rejoiced over the loving-kindness God has toward humanity, a quality which would become so self-evident when Jesus Christ came to save us. But the cross is not the only place where you will find God’s loving-kindness. It’s literally everywhere. Even something as simple as the sun shining on you and food nourishing your body when you’ve had the kind of day you’re not proud of. If you spend some time reflecting, and then you seek to look, you’ll notice the multiplicity of ways God streams divine mercy into your life.
Sometimes when you first enter a church and see the people profusely praising God it can seem a little strange. But I think when you begin to notice all the ways God is working His love in your life this praise becomes more natural. The people of God, and even the angels, give thankful acknowledgement and tributes of praise for God’s grace. When you think about God’s loving-kindness in your life, there’s at least two domains that you should keep in mind. First you should think about all the ways God’s grace has worked in your life personally. Maybe you have a good family who loves and supports you. Maybe you have good friends whom you can trust. But even if you don’t have a good family, maybe you’ve overcome challenging obstacles by way of godly conduct. Regardless of your situation, I’m certain that if you honestly examined it you would find yourself bestowed with plentiful grace and a great deal of divine bounty. The second area of God’s grace to keep in mind is His goodness toward the Church. Throughout history God has blessed His Church and provided for its continued existence. A healthy and functional church is the beating heart of a healthy and functional society. So if you live in times of peace and prosperity, chances are there are many mercies enjoyed by the Church for which we should remember to thank God.
We should remember the reason good things come from God is because goodness is in God. This is an important element to understand because it reminds you God’s blessings are according to His own mercy – not according to our own merit. The infinite reservoir of God’s loving-kindness can never be exhausted. Since God is good, the goodness of God should be the center of gravity for how we understand Him and how we pray to Him. If you’re going through a difficult time where it feels like there isn’t much goodness in your life, you should pray for and seek the goodness of God. If your life is going rather well and you don’t need to look far for God’s blessings, you should thank God and praise His goodness in your prayers. Notice how both hardship and well-being orbit the goodness of God. In hardship you seek more of God’s goodness. In well-being you praise God for such goodness. This revelation of God’s character means that no matter what you’re going through in life, your God remains good.
When Isaiah is remembering God’s goodness to Israel, he gives particular notice to the steps of God’s mercy since Israel was formed into a nation. When God brought Israel out of Egypt He had expectations that they would conduct themselves well. He brought them into covenant with Himself because He was willing to hope they would measure up to it. God hoped they would maintain their integrity as people who would neither lie nor treacherously depart from Him. The people drastically oversold themselves, claiming they would do everything God commands and be fully obedient to Him. God is omniscient, so of course He knew that they would come up short but He wanted to give them a chance anyway. It’s like when you teach a baby to walk for the first time. You know with 100% certainty that he or she is going to fall – but you let the baby try anyway because that’s how you get them to where you know they have the potential to be. God deals fairly and faithfully with His people and so He expects His people to do the same with Him. He already knows about all of your shortcomings but He’s not going to lower the bar because He also knows about the greatness you are capable of.
God knows your potential and that means He is willing to be your Savior and show you favor so you might reach this potential. God brought His people out of Egypt not because of who they were, but because of who they could be. He rescued them from the calamities of their wilderness-state because He knew that was not their destiny. In all of your affliction God allows Himself to be afflicted because He desires to lift you up and carry you through just as He did with His people of old. This salvation is born of God’s love for us and His pity on our fallen condition. Mere compassion and tender affection drove God to rescue Israel over and over throughout history. He doesn’t rescue you because He needs you or is benefited by you – He rescues you because He loves you.
God’s eternal mind is not capable of being damaged or diminished in any way, so when He allows Himself to be afflicted for your afflictions that simply means He sympathizes with you. It pleases God to express His love and concern by considering your afflictions as His own. It’s like when you see a loved one in pain and you feel pain for them. Your cries move God. Understanding this idea will give you assurance that God never rejoices in your affliction – even when you deserve it. Your afflictions never come from the heart of God. In fact, if you humble yourself in the midst of your afflictions then you allow God to enter the pain and experience it with you. The greatest, most manifest example of this is Christ crucified. Jesus experienced physical pain, psychological pain, abandonment, betrayal, and nearly every form of suffering imaginable when He went to the cross. If your afflictions do not come from the heart of God then why does He subject you to them at all? We could talk for hours about the problem of suffering and I’ll probably do another episode in the future that works through the various answers. But for right now just imagine sending a loved one into surgery. It’s never your hearts desire to have them operated on but you know they need it. You know who they could be and you know what they must walk through to get there.
There’s another point to consider when it comes to suffering. Too many people view suffering from the framework of the nonexistence of heaven. So if your life is full of suffering then that’s all you get – there is no hereafter and there is no heaven in your future. But if we’re to believe Scripture then that simply is not true. The truth given to us by God is that heaven is so fantastically wonderful it renders your temporal suffering as nothing by comparison. There will be no more tears, no more grief, and no more pain in heaven – regardless of how much of these you experienced in life. Those who walk with God in life are never abandoned to their afflictions. If you belong to Christ then you never have to experience a moment where all you have is your pain. If you belong to Jesus then you always have the sanctifying grace of God. You always have the mercies and blessings of God which work to mitigate your suffering. The basic truth of being a Christian is that you experience pain differently from those who are alone in it. Undoubtedly it still hurts, but you’re also wonderfully supported and comforted through it. You are blessed with the perspective that your temporal suffering will vanish like dust in the wind and your ending will be an eternity of happiness. Viewing your pain this way transforms it from meaningless suffering into a meaningful hero’s journey in which Christ has already walked ahead of you. This perspective shift makes all the difference.
Jesus is the eternal Word of God who is employed for the work of salvation. Jesus is the express image of the Father and those who know God obey His voice. The glory of God shines on the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one who effected the many acts of salvation for Israel which would become typical representations of the eternal salvation worked out on the cross. The favor of Christ did not simply end with saving grace either. He actually lifted up His people throughout history and supported them by His power. The same is true of you today. Your relationship with God doesn’t end at conversion – that’s only the beginning. God doesn’t leave you to your own devices as you try to become a better Christian. He stands by you and is prepared to lift you up when you are ready to sink. Jesus tolerates your arrogance, ignorance, and shortcomings so that He can carry you as an eagle carries her young. He stayed with Israel through all their journeys into the land of Canaan and even after they were settled His presence never stopped. Apart from Christ we can do nothing, but we can do anything through Christ who strengthens us.
If we can do anything through Christ who strengthens us, then why does humanity so frequently run into problems? For the same reason Israel did. Just when things looked hopeful and promising, Israel had a knack for disingenuous conduct and rebellion against God. Had they only continued in dutiful obedience then God would have continued as their gracious Father. But they betrayed their allegiance to God and took up arms against Him instead. They vexed God’s Holy Spirit with their unbelief and wayward tendencies. God had done so much for them and had carried them into their own prosperity. Instead of gratitude and praise the people rejected God in unwise foolishness. This sort of rebellion grieves God’s Holy Spirit because God seeks to be your friend and not your enemy. In response to Israel’s rebellion God withdrew His protection and they suffered the consequences of war. They had chosen enmity with Almighty God – not too smart. From the time they made an idol out of the golden calf, all through the wilderness and even after their settlement in Canaan – they experienced judgment upon judgment.
That’s how evil and wicked sin is. God had made a commitment to stick with His people throughout their journeys and guide them as their gracious friend. But their sin turned them against God and made Him their enemy. He had felt only love and pity for Israel, but their sin awakened His anger. Satan is called the Father of Lies. The worst kind of deception is giving into sins that change you into the kind of person who rejects God. To embrace sin means to lose God as your friend and to make Him your enemy. Sin causes you to lose the most desirable friend and while making you face the most formidable enemy. For a time Israel experienced what it was like to be enemies of God while they wasted away in Babylonian exile. God could have left them there and been perfectly righteous by it. But out of His mercy and the infinite wells of His grace He saved them and brought them home.
Isaiah reflected on the old days and the past miracles God used to bring Israel out of trouble. What’s interesting about Isaiah’s reflection is that it can be understood from Israel’s perspective as well as God’s perspective. From Israel’s perspective they looked back and remembered the times that God came through for their people. This practice might have brought comfort to them while they were in the midst of despair, and they might have used these reflections to reason with God in their prayers. After all, if God was able to bring their fathers out of Egyptian slavery then surely He could do the same for them in Babylon. Israel understood that their forefathers were every bit as fallen as they were. The Jews whom God led out of Egypt were a provoking people yet they still found pardon with God. This gave the captive Israelites hope of forgiveness and a reason to return to the Lord. If you’re going through something difficult it’s very useful to look back and remember all the good things God has done for you. You can also examine the periods of suffering others have endured and study how the hand of God rescued them. You should never forget your experiences of God’s divine power and goodness. You should never forget the miracles God has worked in your life. Chief among reasons is that God is still the good God who did all those things – God is eternal and He never changes.
Isaiah’s reflection on past salvation can also be understood from God’s perspective. He looked upon His people in Babylon and remembered the times He saved them in the past. He remembered His covenant with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. He could use this remembrance to stir Himself up and save them once again. After all, why not save these people in the same way He saved their forefathers? It’s not as if their predecessors were more deserving of it than they were. These kinds of reflections give us insight into just how merciful God is. The Israelites in Babylon couldn’t give Him any reason to save them. So He reviewed their history and found His own reasons to do it. But the reason He found could have easily been used to justify not saving them. As a human being, it’s perfectly logical and often the correct judgment to look upon someone you’ve bailed out over and over in the past and use that history as a good reason to stop bailing them out. But divine mercy is not from this world and humanity is not capable of matching the astounding grace of God. When God reviewed Israel’s history He concluded that since He continuously rescued them throughout history despite their undeserving conduct, He would do it again now. In the heart of God mercy rejoices against judgment. Our God is a merciful God.
A robust study of history can be very helpful for your faith today. Not only should you keep a record of all the times God has worked good things in your own life, but you should also seek to understand the amazing story of human civilization. History is replete with bad actors who were given access to an alarming amount of power. The fact that we are still here and have built a prosperous, free society is nothing short of a miracle. Understanding God’s great deliverance will give you insight into His sheer power and His merciful character. If we fail to study history then each generation tends to fall into the trap of thinking their problems are unprecedented. This can cause deep levels of anxiety and hopelessness if the problems become severe enough. Israel looked back and reflected on God parting the Red Sea for Moses and the escaping Israelites. If you look back and understand the ways in which God has steered the course of history then you’ll feel much safer in the present moment. You’ll have faith that God is in control and no situation is outside the reach of His power.
When we consider Moses it’s important to remember that he was simply an instrument of God’s providence. Moses wasn’t leading the people by himself. God was leading the people through the right hand of Moses and through the empowered rod Moses carried. God is the one who called Moses to be a leader. God qualified Moses to be a leader. He kept Moses back from leadership until his character was properly calibrated for labor and patience. Once Moses began the task of leadership God assisted him and caused him to prosper in it. Moses played out a pastoral role as a shepherd of God’s flock. God’s work through Moses was a foreshadowing of His work through Christ, who is the Good Shepherd and the King of kings. The Israelites would have never made it out of Egypt had it not been by the grace of God. The Holy Spirit instructed Moses while Moses guided the people. Moses was given the spirit of wisdom, courage, and prophecy. God’s Spirit was also shared among the Israelite elders. Anytime a person is in leadership we should pray for God’s Spirit to bless him or her because following an inspired leader helps us to stay on God’s chosen path.
Even the Red Sea event itself contains elements that are typical of how God works in our own lives. God parted the Red Sea to give the Israelites passage and protection as they fled from Pharaoh. Moses and the people had to step out in faith onto a path that had never been walked before. There are times in life when we are expected to walk forward into the unknown. During these moments we should remember the Israelites as they voyaged onto the seafloor with great walls of water on either side of them. It must have taken great faith. God is not in the business of setting traps for you. If He makes a path for you to walk on, He will make it plain and level. When Moses and the Jews made it to the other side of the sea, they were likely faced with a steep and insurmountable climb to the surface. Remember they had women, children, livestock, and baggage with them. They would have never made it out on their own strength, as was self-evident by the fate of the Egyptians who pursued them. But God, by His power, brought them up from the depths of the earth in a miracle of resurrection. Like baptism, the Israelites descended into the parted Red Sea and resurfaced to new life.
Throughout all of this God remembers the weakness of our frame. He guided the Israelites to be careful and gradual in their journey. He gave them resting places throughout their time spent in the wilderness. Ultimately God brought them into the land of Canaan where they could rest from their nomadic movements. God desires that His people repose in Him as their rest, and the Spirit of God guides them to do so. Jesus said: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. God carried Israel throughout their journeys by His own power and for His own praise. God is the ruler of nature and so all the powers of nature obey Him. Moses was the person God used for much of this guidance but Moses had no power by himself apart from God. God led His people out of Egypt for the sake of making Himself an everlasting and glorious name. He knew the account of the Red Sea and the various other forms of salvation would be retold for millennia. By His own providence God’s name will be glorious and shall extend on into eternity. The great kings and leaders among humanity will one day be relegated to the dusty records of history. But God’s name is alive. God’s name is from everlasting to everlasting. Let’s read verses 15-19:
Isa 63:15 Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and beautiful habitation. Where are your zeal and your might? The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion are held back from me.
Isa 63:16 For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.
Isa 63:17 O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.
Isa 63:18 Your holy people held possession for a little while; our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.
Isa 63:19 We have become like those over whom you have never ruled, like those who are not called by your name.
This passage begins a prayer which is extended into the end of the next chapter. Isaiah prepared this prayer for the Israelites to use while they were in captivity. They could follow this guidance to ensure that their prayers were in line with what the Lord taught them to say. Having a proper prayer life would buttress them in their time of need and give them hope of restoration. It’s also possible to view this prayer as applicable to the Jews who faced destruction by the Romans more than 500 years later. The reason for that designation is Paul citing part of it to show how the Jews rejected gospel grace – which would have happened after the time of Jesus. Either way, this passage gives us some insight into how God taught His people to pray during times of distress.
Israel wanted God to acknowledge their troubles and take notice of their spiritual desire for Him. The Jews understood God’s omniscient nature, so their pleas for Him to see them were more like pleas for Him to regard them. They hoped He would look upon them with an eye of compassion and concern just as He did with their predecessors who escaped Egypt. Their appeal for God to notice them was coupled with a request that He would serve justice against their enemies. It was not uncommon for God’s people to highlight their own injuries as evidence of malfeasance on the part of those who oppressed them. They knew God’s holiness would not allow their perpetrators to go unpunished. God is said to look down upon the earth from Heaven. In Heaven is the throne of God’s glory where His holiness is most manifest. It’s impossible for us to appreciate what it’s like to stand before the throne of God’s glory – but we do know that angels attend it and call out celebrations of God’s holiness. God Himself resides in holiness and one day so will we.
Israel prayed for God to change His course concerning their punishment. They appealed for God to give them grace and to return to them in mercy. More than anything they desired the presence of God. There is no spiritual condition more intolerable than separation from God. Sin is what separates us from God which is why we need Christ’s atonement to save us. It’s true that embracing sin causes marked reductions in your temporal well-being. Sin hurts your body, it hurts your relationships, and it diminishes your character. But sin also hurts your spirit. Allowing sin to rule your life means separating your own spirit from God’s Spirit. This separation causes your spiritual condition to degrade across time until you occupy a little pocket of hell on earth. Separation from God causes bitterness, resentment, and utter misery all the time. It’s not a place you want to occupy and thanks to Jesus Christ it’s not a place anyone ever needs to remain in.
Part of Israel’s prayer was to make an interesting complaint against God. They appeared to blame God for handing them over to their own fallen nature. Undoubtedly enough of them had embraced sin so that their broader community suffered from hardened hearts. Too many of them had lost the fear of the Lord. It wasn’t uncommon for impious people to blame God for their own condition when reproved by the prophets. Wicked people are often accompanied by the arrogance necessary to call God the author of their own sins. But I think the reason they do this is to avoid the responsibility of improving themselves. If you avoid responsibility you also abandon your potential. If you abandon your potential then you lose the ability to observe yourself successfully moving towards a chosen goal. If you fail to observe yourself successfully moving towards a chosen goal then your life will lack meaning. If your life lacks meaning then you will become very depressed and anxious. It’s not a good recipe to follow.
It’s also possible to interpret this portion of the prayer to be Israel lamenting the unbelief and impenitence of their people. This is a slightly more optimistic perspective. In this case those who are offering the prayer are more or less complaining to God about their condition rather than accusing Him of causing it. So they take ownership of their mistakes and they view their hardened hearts as a terrible consequence of rebellion against God. They’re frustrated God would allow them to become so deeply tangled in their sins as to become insensitive to the fear of the Lord. This callousness can certainly happen if God withdraws His Holy Spirit from you, but in Israel’s case they seem to be framing their hardness of heart as a temporary judgment. While in Babylon the Israelites’ afflictions were bound up with their temptations. They suffered greatly in captivity and this suffering diminished their enthusiasm for doing God’s work. They wanted God to grace them with His presence so their zeal could be reawakened.
Israel also complained that God had given them over to their adversaries. Babylon crushed Jerusalem and ruined the temple. The Jews understood God’s omnipotence so it was hard for them to get past the grief of knowing God allowed this destruction to happen. Combine the ruined temple with their hardened hearts and you had a situation where many Israelites lost their motivation to worship God. Israel’s exile and the destruction of their temple is roughly analogous to the shelter-in-place orders given to churches over the course of the coronavirus pandemic. Many Christians reflexively tried to defend their gathered worship at the cost of defying governing authorities. Like Israel, these Christians struggled with the thought of temporarily losing the comforts and pleasure they associate with gathered worship. In the midst of this struggle it becomes easy to think God is being subverted by the powers of this world. This reasoning is fallacious because nothing happens without God allowing it – including pandemics. The faithful response is to understand God is always in control. It takes great faith to remain still while God carries out His plan.
No one enjoys waiting on the Lord while in the midst of suffering – and the Israelites were no different. They pleaded with God to show them compassion as He had their predecessors. In their prayers, the Jews made the argument that if God cared about His own glory He would demonstrate His strength in rescuing them. They asked where His zeal had gone and whether He had the power secure His glory against any opposition. Why had God expressed such immense compassion to their forefathers yet failed to show up in their own moment? Why was it that throughout their history God had released a multitude of mercies upon their people yet seemed to withhold them now? Had God forgotten to be gracious? As you can see, even the Israelites suffered the most common doubts believers go through during dark seasons. Complaining to God in this way is not a poor reflection on your faith – it’s just evidence that you’re human. But you can take solace in knowing that these doubts are unfounded. The truth is God never changes so you can reflect on His past mercies and anchor yourself to them as good reasons to expect God will be merciful in the future.
The Israelites were able to console themselves by appealing to their relation to God as their Father. They tried to keep in mind that despite their current struggles, God is their Father and fathers do not restrain their mercy after the time of displeasure has passed. This is a good way to think about God. He’s not a ruthless law-giver who enforces His code with a tyrannical rod of judgment. He’s the Father. His discipline comes from a heart full of love, compassion, and grace. Therefore God is merciful. It was a point of Hebrew pride to remember Abraham as their heritage and Israel as their nation. These things were like worldly evidences of the Jews’ close communion with God. But being descendants of Abraham and citizens of Israel means nothing if you don’t have God as your Father. Abraham and Israel cannot help you in the way that God does. Many of the Jews understood this. They knew Abraham and their forefathers would intercede for them and give them advice had they been there – but all these people had passed on. It’s very possible for you to find yourself in a situation where all you have left is God, so it behooves you to keep close to Him at all times.
God’s relationship with you is unique because He knows everything about you and He’s never far from you. You have human relationships where love makes this the case, but on earth these relationships pass away with our loved ones. You will see them again, but in the mean time God is the only One who never departs from you. He is your immortal Father and your Redeemer from everlasting. Death is not the only occurrence which can sever your human relationships. It’s possible for you to fall into a ditch so deep that your friends and family disown you. Even major biblical characters like Abraham and Jacob did this to some family members. But if you repent and turn toward God you can be certain He will embrace you. Regardless of human opinion God knows and appreciates your value. God’s relationship with you is unique because He alone is able to forgive your sins and purify you by the blood of Christ. God forgives and pardons in a way you haven’t experienced from human beings because God is not from this world.
Another element of Israel’s prayer was to appeal to God’s proprietary ownership of them. He was their Lord and they were His servants. But how could they effectively serve God if His presence wasn’t among them and all they had available were idols? This was another point of reasoning Israel thought they could use to argue for their salvation. Israel considered their condition directly connected to God’s honor since He was their Master. God should be the one to protect them and to assert His right over them. Where would His praise and worship come from if not from His servants in Israel? How could His people regard Him properly if they suffered under terrible abuse? These were more questions and thoughts Israel contemplated to give themselves feelings of hope and assurance. God is good and His own honor is vested in the reliability of His Word. You can rest in the knowledge that God has promised to work all things out for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them.
It was common knowledge among Israel that God had set apart the Promised Land for His people. The captive Jews reasoned that since they had only enjoyed this Promised Land for a limited time, God must have a plan to restore them to it. How could Canaan be an everlasting possession if they had been dislodged from it? They all knew the extent to which God had worked to bring them into the Promised Land. All of these miracles suggested their time in Canaan shouldn’t end with exile. The truth is they were dislodged by their own sin. They may have fancied themselves distinguished people who were shareholders in God’s holiness, but they didn’t bear good fruit and their wickedness drove them out of their homeland.
I think deep down they understood this because the next portion of their prayer betrays a sense of guilt. They pleaded with God that the strangers who took over their homeland were worse in conduct than they were. These were foreign idolaters who didn’t even know God. They weren’t called by God’s name and they considered themselves as belonging to idols. The Babylonians utterly disregarded Israel’s God so obedience never crossed their minds. Israel reasoned that, despite themselves being wicked, perhaps God should rescue them because the Babylonians were worse. How could it make sense for God to allow these irreverent foreigners to trample all over His own people even if His own people had gone astray? Certainly wayward people who belonged to God must be better than those who never did, right? You can sense in this prayer how the Israelites felt rather abandoned and devalued. They felt as if they were people who never belonged to God at all. They shared all of the nagging doubts you and I go through when times get difficult and when we find no relief. Ultimately they knew they screwed up and they knew they needed a Savior to atone for their mistakes. Such is life and such is the case for all of human history. Such is the case for every person alive right now, for every person who has ever lived, and for every person who will ever live. Every person except one. And He is our Savior. In the final analysis, all of us need Jesus.
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