Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 140th episode. In this episode I want to return to our study of the book of Isaiah. We are in chapter 64. In the previous chapter Israel made pitiful pleas for God to act on their behalf. This chapter is a continuation of those pleas. Their argument was based on God’s covenant-relation to them and His interest in their well-being. Since He had made a covenant with them, Israel reasoned that God should appear in some miraculous way to support them and oppose their enemies. Israel concluded that their enemies must be God’s enemies as well. In their prayers the Israelites reviewed history and used God’s past actions as a rationale for Him to save them now. We see glimmers of repentance and humility as Israel confesses themselves to be sinful and unworthy of God’s favor. It’s as if they were beginning to make the connection between their own actions and God’s judgment upon them. In desperation the Israelites appear to submit themselves to God’s sovereignty. The people understood God to be their Father, so they hoped He would have mercy on them as a Father would His children.
This chapter ends with a panoramic view of the deplorable condition the Jews were in. Their sins had ruined them until they were nothing but a remnant of their former glory. When all their schemes had failed, they had nothing left to do but earnestly pray for God’s pardon of their sins. They besought God to turn His wrath away from them. Isaiah’s words were not only intended for the captive Jews, because they apply to us as well. This chapter gives the church insight for how to plead with God during times of distress. Isaiah’s words remind us what happens to a society when it departs from God’s wisdom in search of its own majesty. We should be alarmed anytime a person or group claims utopian visions in an effort to separate us from what God has said. Even if you have no faith in Isaiah’s warning, a cursory review of history is all it takes to see how those schemes end. In order to produce a functional society your individuals must be humble enough to develop themselves before venturing out to change the system. Otherwise these underdeveloped and pathological individuals will simply corrupt whatever system they construct. That’s what Israel discovered as they sat in the pile of ashes that used to be their nation. It was their own sins which did this to them. There was nothing left but to plead with God. Let’s read verses 1-5:
Isa 64:1 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence–
Isa 64:2 as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil– to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
Isa 64:3 When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
Isa 64:4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.
Isa 64:5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
Israel was in a desperate place and they petitioned God to do something about it. Namely, they wanted Him to appear in a wonderful display of His zeal and strength. In the previous chapter they asked God to look down from heaven upon them. They wanted Him to acknowledge their plight. But in this chapter they need Him to actually come down and deliver them. This heightened sense of urgency shows us how Israel’s condition had deteriorated. Instead of mere acknowledgement, Israel sought God’s providence to manifest Himself both to them and for them. When God delivered King David, He was said to bow the heavens and come down. This is an illustration of God’s power, justice, and goodness put on display.
Israel remembered God’s historic deliverance and they wanted Him to do it again. They prayed for Him to rend the heavens and come down in such an extraordinary manner so as to be irrefutable to all who witness His glory. This same desire resides in the hearts of God’s people today. It’s applicable to the second coming of Jesus Christ. We see chaos and injustice happening all around us in this world. When evil and corruption seem so dominant, we want nothing more than for the Lord Himself to descend from heaven with a shout. We want the whole world to have the satisfaction of seeing its Creator coming from on high. And we want the fear of God to flow through the wicked hearts of those who do evil.
This idea of their enemies being vanquished was also part of Israel’s prayer. Evildoers can seem quite formidable in this world, but God’s wrath burns so fiercely against His enemies that even the most steadfast sinners will melt under it like hot iron. God’s wrath is compared to a volcanic eruption which explodes with such energy that it boils nearby streams and rivers. Israel wanted to see a display of God’s wrath because they desired for God’s name to be glorified in it. Friends of God already honor Him and trust in His omnipotent power. But a display of wrath goes a long way toward confirming their faith as well as causing God’s enemies to tremble at His presence. When the power of God is revealed all who witness it agree that none can stand before it.
There will come a day when God will make His name known to His adversaries. If you belong to Jesus then the name of God is a stronghold for you. It’s a place where you can run to worship and be safe. But if you reject God and give yourself over to evil, the name of the Lord becomes a stronghold against you. It becomes an impenetrable, inescapable fortress you cannot overcome. Godless people are given the freedom to reign on earth because of God’s patience. But one day that patience will expire and all the nations who oriented themselves against God will tremble at His power.
The rationale contained in Israel’s prayer was that since God had appeared so wonderfully for His people in the past, He should do it again for them now. If you’re walking through a season in your life where it feels like God is far from you, it’s helpful to remember all the times He’s provided for you in the past. When Israel reflected on God’s historical acts of salvation they realized He often worked in ways they did not expect. God’s deliverance through history often accompanies some rather terrible things. When He rescued His people from Egypt, He did it by releasing terrible plagues in the land. Later when God came down on Mount Sinai His presence caused it to tremble and caused the adjacent mountains to flow down and skip like rams. It’s clear that God’s great works of salvation often involve terrible things we do not expect. Great leaders and kings who seem to tower above all else fall down and give way before Him. Probably the most striking example of this was when the Angel of the Lord destroyed the Assyrian king Sennacherib’s mighty army in a single night.
In addition to reflecting on past salvation, Israel also pleaded with God on the basis of His own grace. God had acted in gracious ways toward His people throughout history. He also made it clear that His general purpose for His people is a gracious one. God’s provision is very rich and readily available to all who seek Him, serve Him, and trust in Him. He works for your safety and your happiness. When it comes to God’s providence, the certainty of it means you never have to fear being disappointed of it. The sufficiency of it means you never have to fear being disappointed in it. It’s outside the bounds of comprehension to explain the richness God has prepared for those who wait for Him. God desires faith such that you wait for His salvation with a sense of duty and peace. The happiness of God’s people is inextricably linked to what God has done for them in the past and what He will do for them in the future. God has laid up treasures of goodness for those who fear Him and trust in Him. Of all the inquisitive philosophers going back to the beginning of the world, none of them have been able to come to the full knowledge of what God has in store.
It’s a privilege to be alive today. We know about Christ and we have the gospel. Much of this goodness was concealed during ancient times. The unsearchable riches of Christ were hidden in God. The gospel of Jesus was hidden from the wise and the prudent, only to be revealed later by God’s Holy Spirit. You might think it’s unfair for so many ancient people to have gone through life without the gospel – but God had already accounted for them. The general revelation of God found in His creation means that none are deprived of experiencing Him and knowing Him. It’s kind of like how those who have passed away now have the answers to the questions which trouble us who are still alive. If we knew how glorious and wonderful heaven is, would we want to live another moment here on earth? God is precise and intentional about how much He conceals and how much He reveals. We can rest assured that He’s operating in the way which is necessary to bring about the greatest possible good.
God’s providence and the blessings He has in store for us cannot be fully comprehended by human understanding. The revelation God has given us is only a taste which our temporal minds have the ability to grasp. The full extent of His presence in heaven will far exceed even our highest expectations. You’ve probably noticed that many Christians walk through life with a sense of peace. It’s a grounding in tranquility that often appears irrational considering external circumstances. But even the present peace of believers measures as nothing compared to the future bliss which surpasses conception and expression. There none who can fully comprehend the peace of God apart from God Himself. His understanding is infinite. Look around at the creation and take some time to reflect on the wondrous power of God’s work. Think of all the good things which have been planned and given to you by no effort of your own. These are evidences of God’s infinite grace and they are proof that there is no other being like Him in heaven or on earth.
There is a profound and interminable connection between a gracious soul and the gracious God. This connection is made when we work righteousness and obey the will of God. When we aim to be proficient in our Christianity we become closer to our Creator. God desires a cheerful giver and He wants us to rejoice in righteous duty. His will is for us to delight in His word, to delight in communion with Him, and to be thankful in our worship of Him. An important facet of maintaining your relationship with God is maintaining an accurate understanding of His holy character. We should not seek to shape God into our own likeness, rather we should shape ourselves into His likeness. The more we understand God, the more we will understand the methods of His providence. Our clarity of thought concerning God will allow us to notice when He’s walking in mercy towards us – therefore we can thank Him and be grateful for it. We can also notice when God is pushing back against us and this will give us alarm concerning some part of our spirit that needs healing. But even being aware of God’s chastisement will help us react with patience and submission when He contends with us.
If we maintain our close connection with God through the joyful commencement of righteous duty, then He will have friendship, fellowship, and familiarity with us. He will manifest Himself to you and receive your addresses. You will see that God gives His blessings freely and generously. Indeed, God will often anticipate you with His good will as a consequence of your intimacy with Him. He’ll show up in ways you never expected and did not earn. This is because God’s heart rejoices to do good things and to be kind to His people. Even if you were a lost soul who repented and sought forgiveness, God embraced you as if you were His own child – because you are. As quick and generous as God’s blessings are, His forgiveness and redemption are even faster and even more profound. God’s actions represented the archetype of self-sacrificial love when He gave His life for humanity while we were yet sinners. He brings peace to His people who pray for it – so rapidly that it often washes over them before they finish asking for it.
Israel understood that if they were to receive God’s grace, it would have to happen on the basis of His own unchanging, merciful character. Their spirits had been maligned by sins. They knew their actions had displeased God and brought His wrath down upon them. But they reasoned from history that God had forgiven their sins in the past so perhaps He would do it again now. Perhaps God’s mercy endures forever. And they were right about this. It’s true God visits our transgressions with the rod of His judgment, but it’s also true He will not utterly take away His loving-kindness from us. That is the basis of God’s grace and the sole reason humanity still exists today. Too many times we’ve allowed our sins to march us to the brink of destruction – and each time God has been ready to accept us back in after we repent. Humanity does not endure on its own merit. Humanity endures on the everlasting covenant of God.
Our sins make God angry. For those who do not accept the atonement of Christ judgment awaits. Ultimately it’s God’s own character which saves us. God prefers to give us life more abundantly and that’s the only reason any of us can have it. God’s anger may come upon us but His anger only endures for a moment while His preference for grace, love, and life endure forever. And that reality has nothing to do with us. It’s just the way God is. God preserves humanity because He wants to and because He has a plan for us. Thankfully, our salvation is not built upon our own sufficiency. Even in paradise humanity disobeyed the word of God. If our salvation were dependent on ourselves it would be uncertain and unreliable. Since our salvation rests in God’s mercy and God’s promises, we can rest assured of its continuance. Let’s read verses 6-12:
Isa 64:6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Isa 64:7 There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.
Isa 64:8 But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Isa 64:9 Be not so terribly angry, O LORD, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.
Isa 64:10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Isa 64:11 Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
Isa 64:12 Will you restrain yourself at these things, O LORD? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?
This passage gives us the lamentations of Isaiah. Isaiah looked into the future and saw Jerusalem destroyed by the Babylonians. He saw the sins of Israel which invited this destruction. These visions brought great sadness to his heart and he lamented them. Notice how Israel confessed their sins in the midst of their affliction. They owned the fact that they were unworthy of God’s mercy. These confessions accomplished two things. First they explained how God’s judgment upon them was justified. Secondly they positioned Israel in such a way as to make them ready for God’s deliverance. Being under divine judgment for sin put them into a position where all they had left was their ability to trust in God’s mercy. Sin had infected their population so thoroughly that there were none among them who were qualified to uphold them or intercede for them.
What does it look like when a population deteriorates to the point where the only option left is dependence on God’s mercy? Generally there is a breakdown of public trust. The individuals who make up the institutions become so easily corrupt that they see no reason to tell the truth. This carelessness leads to widespread remission of duties and incompetence. Manners and polity are discarded because individuals no longer see reason to uphold them. Israel related this individual and public breakdown to being overspread with leprosy. Each person became as an unclean thing which typically would have been quarantined from the healthy segments of society. Their sins spread around and infected them like a disease. This diseased condition made it difficult or impossible to conduct even the most basic functions of social order. The people had become obnoxious to God’s justice, odious to His holiness, and even their vain attempts at righteousness were like filthy rags. They were less interested in godly obedience and more interested in deceptive virtue signaling.
Collectively, they had become so broken that even the best among them were contemptible compared to their forefathers. Their efforts at sacrifice became nothing but performative lies. They didn’t have the faith to give their best to God so they pretended to give their best and then blamed God and others when these offerings were rejected. This performative piety is a common trap for Christians to fall into today. God desires your obedient heart and your obedient heart is His primary command. It’s a vicious mistake to think you can use performative imagery as a substitute for an obedient heart. This would be the person who gives themselves over to evil while putting all of their effort into appearing as a wholesome, churchgoing Christian. Instead you must have the humility to acknowledge your broken condition so that you can depend on Christ’s righteousness and not your own.
Anyone who attempts to be a moral leader by presenting themselves as pure as the driven snow is destined for a tremendous collapse. Your Christianity must be founded on truth, not on the perceived purity of your character. If you want to be a moral leader you must do it by presenting the gospel. You must do it by presenting Christ because He is the only one who has the capacity to uphold perfection – Himself being the definition of perfection. Anytime we do good things we bring some element of sin along with us, therefore we always fall short of the glory of God. The proper way forward is to accurately layout the character of Christ and then aspire to be more and more like Him. We cannot function at the collective level if this Christlike aspiration is not occurring on the individual level. We can aspire to be like Christ while having the humility to understand we are not yet like Him. The only reason we can walk in this way is because we have a Savior who Himself is holy and righteous.
In addition to their corrupt individual characters, Israel also suffered from a rather cold devotional life. They were so full of iniquity that they neglected prayer altogether. Prior to their repentance they spent very little time asking God to take away their sins. They didn’t seem interested in requesting God to relieve His judgments which were a consequence of these sins. As a nation grows ever more reprobate prayer tends to diminish and possibly cease entirely. If any of them did pray, it was likely a prayer made out of indifference. At this moment in their history very few Israelites had the faith to stir themselves up and take hold of God. Taking hold of God is the essence of what prayer is. Prayer requires you to have the faith to wrestle with God about your struggles and your sins. Prayer involves understanding the promises of grace God has made to you – and then pursuing Him for the satisfaction of these promises. When you pray, you should pray as one who earnestly desires to be close with God. Take hold of Him and see to it that you keep yourself close.
Understand that this kind of prayer does not happen naturally. Your fallen nature has the proclivity to drift away from God and into sin. You have to stir yourself up and consciously pursue this kind of prayer life. If you want a healthy prayer life then you must fix your thoughts and affections on God. If you have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, then inside of you God has placed a gift. The gift is His Holy Spirit. When you give due consideration to the importance of the work God has called you to, and you stir yourself up in prayer, the Holy Spirit will guide you in your walk with the Lord. Israel’s chief problem was that their sins had festered long enough that nearly no one in their society was doing this. How could they expect God to come to them in mercy when they didn’t have the heart to ask Him to? Whatever intercessors they had, these were mere triflers primarily interested in performative moral superiority.
Part of Israel’s confession was to acknowledge their afflictions were the consequence of their own sins. They knew they had brought their troubles down upon themselves. Their plight is illustrated by reference to the leaves in autumn. Israel’s sins had cut them off from God and caused them to wither. As their condition worsened, they eventually fell from the tree altogether and were swept away by the winds of their iniquity. They became prisoners to their own sins. All of this resulted in God’s wrath being brought down upon them. Israel had made themselves unclean so God turned His face away from them. The people were acutely aware of God putting them into the furnace of His wrath, but they didn’t yet realize He was doing it to refine them as one refines gold. They thought he was just going to consume them and be done with it.
It was helpful for Israel to remember their covenant relationship with God. Keeping this relationship in focus allowed them to plead with God that He refrain from destroying them. They took ownership of their ungrateful disobedience but were unwilling to consider God as anything but their Father. This covenant relationship helped Israel maintain some dignity despite their deplorable conditions under the oppression of their enemies. Even though many supposed God’s wrath to be fatal, some were able to draw hope that they might return to God in repentance as prodigal sons. Keeping your relationship with God in focus helps you to remember God doesn’t punish you sadistically for no purpose. Viewing God as your Father in heaven goes a long way toward understanding His forgiveness and believing you can be reconciled to Him.
To be the sons and daughters of God means that we are created by the Creator. God gave you your life. He shaped you into the being He planned for you to be. The clay has no quarrel with the potter, the clay belongs to the potter for the potter do with as He pleases. Israel understood this and so they prayed for God to deal well with them. They desired for God to shape them and form them into new creations. Israel knew their sins had deformed them and made them unclean. They wanted God to correct these flaws and make them fit for service. One of your daily prayers should be that God molds you and shapes you into who He needs you to be in order to fulfill your calling. You need meaning and purpose in order to keep going forward when happiness isn’t present in your life. Happiness comes and goes but meaning is durable enough to extend through the seasons of suffering.
In their repentance Israel threw themselves down prostrate before God, declaring that they belong to Him. They pleaded with God that they were the only people He had in the world who would openly profess His name. Israel appealed to the fact that neighboring nations, and indeed their own conquerors, knew about God’s covenant relationship with Israel. The Israelites claimed if they suffered long and unjustly it would reflect badly on God’s character. They besought God that He deliver the relief their circumstances required lest He risk embarrassing His own name. From one perspective this seems like a bold strategy. But God actually wants you to hold fast to your relationship with Him as your Father during difficult seasons. He wants you to seek Him, He wants you to depend on Him, and He wants you to trust Him with your salvation.
It’s interesting to consider what Israel asked for next. They didn’t ask for God to remove His judgment from them. They asked for God to reconcile them to Himself and to cease being angry with them. Israel continued to accept responsibility for their sins while seeking some hope that their affliction would not last forever. A father doesn’t remain angry with his children in perpetuity – the fact that he’s their father brings some measure of clemency and compassion. Israel knew there might be some necessity in being punished for their sins. They simply hoped God wouldn’t punish them in the midst of His blazing wrath. And He actually doesn’t do that. It’s certainly possible to experience a measure of God’s wrath, but He doesn’t obliterate you the moment you step out of line. God is slow to anger, but when He does become angry with you He hides His face from you, lest you be destroyed by His wrath. This is the same way you should punish your children. You only do it out of love and never out of rage.
It’s worth noting that Israel was more afraid of God’s wrath and the consequences of their own sins than they were of judgment. Sin is evil and it deserves to be remembered forever. I think this is one of the reasons human beings have such a hard time forgiving others who have done evil things. Israel prayed that God would not remember their iniquity forever. It turns out only the blood of Christ is capable of washing away your sins. When Jesus forgives you, He puts your malfeasance in the past and no longer remembers it. To be humble under God means to be terrified of His wrath and of the fatal consequences of your own sins. Life is full of suffering because we are broken creatures who inhabit a fallen creation. But you can be certain sins will turn your suffering into a little slice of hell on earth. Sinful arrogance has caused more people to become trapped in pits of resentment and bitterness than we’d like to believe.
The next part of Israel’s prayer is a complaint concerning their deplorable conditions. Their houses had been destroyed by the invading Babylonians. Following the practice of many ancient empires, Babylon carried off the Israelites into exile so there was no one left to repair the cities. The cities in Judah were considered holy cities because the Jews were a kingdom of priests in relation to God. Israel’s lament over their cities had less to do with the cities being stately or wealthy and more to do with the fact that they were God’s cities. The cities in Judah had synagogues where God’s name was known, professed, and called upon. Once bustling and beautiful, the cities of Judah had become a wilderness of ruins where no one came to visit. This fate was not limited to Judah’s smaller cities either. Even noble Jerusalem, the city of David, was crushed and left in ruins. This panoramic view of Judah’s cities in desolation shows us that sin can seep in and destroy even places that are ostensibly holy. It doesn’t matter how carefully you craft your image, if you give yourself over to wickedness God’s judgment will come along and flatten you.
The justice of God superseded even the temple itself. The temple was built to be the house of God – and God allowed Babylon to burn it to the ground. Of course, God knew this would take place even when the people first built the temple. Losing the temple disturbed the Israelites possibly more than any other part of the Babylonian invasion. Remember the first temple was richly adorned by King Solomon – he spared no expense in its construction. But the gold and the fine materials is not what made the temple special in the eyes of Jews. It was the holiness of it. The holiness of the temple presented the greatest form of beauty in the eyes of God’s people. When Babylon stormed through they desecrated the temple and profaned this holiness. The sacred services which used to be performed there were discontinued. For Israel, the destruction of the temple was an intimate and brutal violation of their religious liberty.
There was also precious years of history contained in the temple. The temple represented innumerable memories of their forefathers praising God with sacrifice and song. For ages the temple was the glory of the nation, but Babylon left it in ashes. All of this destruction made it even more painful when Israel’s captors compelled them to misuse songs of praise once performed in the temple by turning them into a parody. Israel presented this case to God and pleaded that He give credence to the covenant He made with their fathers and remember their praise of Him in the temple. The destruction of the temple also meant destruction of many other meaningful things. They lost the furniture, the altars and table, and the religious rituals. Their new moon and Sabbath ceremonies as well as other religious feasts were taken from them. The loss of the temple would be kind of like losing your church today. Of course it was much worse for the Jews because there was only one temple built – whereas today we have many churches. But the loss would be painful nonetheless. All the memories you made there with your church family as well as the activities you enjoy doing would be taken from you.
From Israel’s perspective, their sacred things made up the foundation of all other good things in life. Stealing away the holy ordinances and the means of grace caused the rest of their lives to fall out of balance. There’s something really important to notice about how the Jews speak of their cities and the temple. The cities were meant for their own habitation and yet they called them God’s holy cities. But the temple was meant for God’s habitation and they called it our beautiful house. This is a brilliant way of relating to God. Israel took their own concerns – represented by their cities – and gave those concerns to God. Then they took God’s concerns – represented by the temple – and espoused themselves to those concerns. So they took God’s interest and God’s will and laid it close to their hearts while surrendering their worldly concerns to Him. The truth is if we surrender our concerns to God, then surrender ourselves to God’s concerns, He will perfect both domains.
This chapter concludes with Israel affectionately reasoning with God. They implored Him to survey their situation and do something about it. How could He consider their circumstances and restrain Himself from action? How could He look at His temple in burnt ruins and not seek revenge on His enemies? How could God be insulted and blasphemed yet take no notice of it? God’s enemies committed high offenses against heaven and seemed to get away with it. Was God even there at all? You have to imagine the people had their doubts sometimes – just like we do. But the truth is Christians accept their persecution with patient endurance. We give our vengeance to God because vengeance belongs with God. Israel didn’t try to tell God exactly what to say in response to all of these offenses, they just wanted Him to say something. They wanted Him to say something for the conviction of His enemies and for the comfort of His people.
When life gets hard and you are stricken down by your enemies, it can be tempting to question whether God is there at all. When criminals openly affront God and denounce His kingdom it can be tempting to think there is no justice. It is precisely at these moments that we must lean into God’s promises and believe them by faith. God has promised that He will not contend with us forever and that our afflictions are temporary. We can trust that He’s in control and He’s done everything exactly as He saw fit. We can trust that our pain in this world is only light and for a moment. Sometimes life can feel like a long journey, but one day all of God’s people will look back and realize it wasn’t. Life was simply a cloud of vapor taken in the wind. Eternity in the presence of God is the beginning of a whole new journey – one where we finally reside in the home we were always meant for.
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