64:1. “Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that
thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy
presence,”
Isaiah, continuing to act as spokesman for the nation, pleads with God to
manifest Himself as the omnipotent God of Israel.
64:2. “As when the melting fire burneth, the fire
causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thy adversaries, that
the nations may tremble at thy presence!”
64:3. “When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest
down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.”
64:4. “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor
perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he
hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.”
The NEB translates these verses, “Why didst thou not rend the heavens and
come down, and make the mountains shudder before thee as when fire blazes up
in brushwood, or fire makes water boil? Then would thy name be known to thy
enemies, and nations tremble at thy coming. When thou didst terrible things
that we did not look for, the mountains shuddered before thee. Never has ear
heard or eye seen any other god taking the part of those who wait for him.”
The Liberty Bible Commentary notes that ”This is Isaiah’s appeal for God’s
direct intervention into the affairs of Israel. The figure here is one of
significance .... Israel felt itself to be separated from the world beyond
by a thick party-wall, resembling an impenetrable black cloud.” Isaiah
appeals to God to split or tear apart that separating cloud. He desires for
the mountains to flow down. This would indicate the melting of the
mountains, and as a result, the judgment fire of God. The reference to
clouds and the Lord splitting the clouds definitely points to the second
coming of Christ. “Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see
him ... ” (Rev 1:7). The melting of mountains is also indicated when the
Lord returns: “... and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth
also and the works that are therein shall be burned up,” 2 Pe 3:10.
64:5. “Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh
righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth;
for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.”
Taylor’s translation of this verse reads, “You welcome those who cheerfully
do good, who follow godly ways. But we are not godly; we are constant
sinners and have been all our lives. Therefore Your wrath is heavy on us.
How can such as we be saved?”
This contrite confession of guilt must precede any expectation of blessing,
for God will not bless until sin is confessed, repented of, and forsaken.
64:6. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our
iniquities like the wind, have taken us away.”
Confession of sin continues here with the acknowledgement of just how
utterly vile they were: they had become as unclean as a discarded menstruous
cloth: they were like withered leaves dried and dead, blown away by the
wind.
Such complete honest confession of guilt and utter worthlessness must be
made by every sinner who would be saved. To retain the thought that I have
even one shred of righteousness automatically excludes me from the company
of those whom God saves.
64:7. “And there is none that calleth upon thy name,
that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face
from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.”
Israel was about to learn that the complete abnegation acknowledged here was
the very confession to which God would respond by pardoning their sin, and
pouring out His blessing. The same principle governs His dealings with men
today.
64:8. “But thou, O Lord, thou art our father; we are
the clay, and thou our potter; and we are all the work of thy hand.”
As every human father is invested with the right to control his children,
and rear them in the nurture and fear of God, so does God have the right to
control men, and teach them to obey His will and be blessed, or to disobey
and be chastened.
64:9. “Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither
remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy
people.”
The AAT version of this verse reads, “Be not angry, O Lord, beyond measure,
nor remember our guilt for ever.”
This plea calls to mind the awful reality of God’s refusing to answer this
prayer, and of the solemn warning against provoking Him to remember our
guilt for ever, as it is written, “He, that being often reproved hardeneth
his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy,” Pr 29; and
again, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” Heb
10:31.
Israel may have imagined herself utterly abandoned by God, but the truth is
that it is to just such confession of worthless that He responds with His
gracious offer of pardon, and gift of eternal life.
64:10. “Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a
wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.”
Only the spiritually blind will fail to see in this a typological picture of
today’s professing but apostate Christianity, the imposing facade of which
blinds the beholder to the inward spiritual corruption and ruin.
64:11. “Our holy and our beautiful house, where our
fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things
are laid waste.”
The description applies to today’s Christendom just as much as to the
Jerusalem pictured by the prophet.
64:12. “Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O
Lord? Wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?”
The Jerusalem Bible translates this, “Yahweh, can you go unmoved by all of
this, oppressing us beyond measure by your silence?”
Acknowledgement of guilt would have been more fitting than this ascription
of injustice to God. Had they received their just deserts He would have
banished them into hell. And so is it today, not just with an utterly
corrupt society, but with professing apostate Christendom
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