The Prophecy of Isaiah – Lesson 55

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Today, we continue in Chapter 64 and keep in mind that we are in the summary section of Isaiah. Isaiah opens Chapter 64 with prayer and intercession for his nation.

Isaiah 64:1-4

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— 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! When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. 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.

God had shown His power before and Isaiah's "Oh" in verse 1 has both an "Oh if only you would" and an "Oh if only you had" meaning. Motyer says, "We too who are so often baffled by the way the Lord runs the world can identify with the spirit which wonders why he has acted in some other way – why he has not done something to check evil, change circumstances and people, rescue his own – rather than, as it appears, doing nothing!" p. 519.

Of course we know that He all things are under His control and our ignorance is a stone that we fall on. We appropriate, by faith, the promise that God, "acts for those who wait for Him". That sort of waiting is patient, confident, and expectant. That sort of waiting is the normal Christian life. God calls on us (wait is in the imperfect tense) to have this as a habitual attitude. Think of the faithful servant who pays attention to his master to receive all that the master has for him and to give faithful service in all that the master calls him to do. That is a picture of waiting on God.

Isaiah 64:5-7

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? 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. 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.

Just like Romans 3:10-18 we find that none of us spontaneously call upon God's name, or take hold of Him, or seek Him. If God continually hides His face then we melt in the hand of our sin. When we neglect God in worship ("calls upon your name") and/or as our source of strength ("rouses himself to take hold of you") we find ourselves on dangerous ground even as Christians. The consequence is horrible for the unsaved if they ignore God and He ignores them because, in the end, God is glorified in judgment upon them. God will either be glorified by each man or He will be glorified in His judgment of that man.

Antony Flew died on April 8^th. The New York Times titled his obituary "Antony Flew, Philosopher and Ex-Atheist, Dies at 87". They said that when he decided that God probably did exist in 2004 the result was that he "dismayed the unbelieving faithful". In 2007 he co-wrote a book titled, "There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind". Christian apologists rejoiced at his comments and the "unbelieving faithful" rejected his arguments. Since they rejected Aristotle it only seems fair that they would reject Mr. Flew. I can say without any reasonable doubt that Antony Flew was smarter than anyone in this room. Based on what his friends and enemy's say about him, I would also suggest that he was more fair minded than anyone in this room. And yet, Scripture teaches that Mr. Flew (based on all we can know) is not going to be with the Church in the afterlife. He never believed in an afterlife and he said, "I want to be dead when I'm dead and that's an end to it. I don't want an unending life. I don't want anything without end." Mr. Flew doesn't get to decide that. I'm afraid that he is now in his 10^th day of eternity without any atonement for his sins. So we are not as smart as him or as fair minded as him but most if not all of us in this room are washed in the Blood of the Lamb. You had better be amazed by God's sovereign saving grace this morning and call upon His name and rouse yourself to take hold of Him.

Isaiah 64:8-12

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. Be not so terribly angry, O LORD, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people. Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins. Will you restrain yourself at these things, O LORD? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?

Isaiah continues in intercessory prayer. I think the picture of the clay being beaten down by the potter in preparation for some other work is amazing here. The judgment is a preparation for forming a new people. We often have a happy picture of the potter making new things and forget the beating of the clay to mix it and remove air pockets so that the clay would be uniform and ready for becoming something useful. Isaiah is crying out that the preparation of the clay has gone on long enough and asks for God to end the punishment and speak. God speaks but it is not a word of comfort.

Isaiah 65:1-7

I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, "Here am I, here am I," to a nation that was not called by my name. I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig's flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels; who say, "Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you." These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day. Behold, it is written before me: "I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their bosom both your iniquities and your fathers' iniquities together, says the LORD; because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure into their bosom payment for their former deeds."

Read the history of what was going on in these days. It was a dark time with pagan practices permeating Judah and Jerusalem. We've discussed syncretism before in which God's people combine the practices of the religions and philosophies that surround them. This is something that we still do. It takes time and grows slowly and that is why looking back to the reformation and to the first century is so important. We tend to measure ourselves by the last generation and that is a very poor way to hold a straight line. Deviations just magnify with time and the first century Jerusalem was in this reprobate status (Romans 10:21) with the exception of those whom God saved. 

Isaiah 65:8-10

Thus says the LORD: "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say, 'Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,' so I will do for my servants' sake, and not destroy them all. I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah possessors of my mountains; my chosen shall possess it, and my servants shall dwell there. Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for my people who have sought me.

So even in the winepress of His judgment, God will keep a people. God brings forth those who have sought Him. He continues to honor the unconditional covenant He made with Abraham and David. And of course you are a chosen people. You are the children of Abraham by adoption but that confers your status as children of Abraham more surely than your earthly heritage does. Once again remember that we'll see some of Isaiah that is his day, some that is Nehemiah's day, some Christ's day, and some the end times. Also remember that it will occur without warning. That is the hazard of talking with God who is transcendent. 

Isaiah 65:11-16

But you who forsake the LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny, I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter, because, when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in." Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame; behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit. You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse, and the Lord GOD will put you to death, but his servants he will call by another name. So that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes.

God is going to come for a purified Church. He gives us food and drink, makes us rejoice and sing, gives us a new name, and causes us to look to Him for all our needs. In your spiritual life, He gives you communion, a rejoicing heart, the name Christian, and a reliance on Him for your righteousness. Your sins are forgotten and hidden from His eyes. So there you are again taking communion with a new name with your sins forgiven in 700 BC.

Isaiah 65:17-25

"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain," says the LORD.

I went over this verse when I was discussing eschatology on Sunday nights. It seems to indicate that your eschatology must allow for a millennium in which Christ rules but has not yet judged the world since sinners are there but radical changes have occurred. This causes the most trouble for those of a premillennial view and you are all supposed to hold that view. However, most haven't really dealt with it in their minds. This is obviously not heaven (death, sinners, and babies are present) but, just as obviously, this has not yet occurred. Isaiah has jumped thousands of years to give us a view of an incredible time on earth. In these chapters Isaiah asked God if He would keep silent and He said no but judgment would come, a people with a new name would come, and someday His rule would radically change the way things work "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now (Romans 8:19-22). Amen.