Isaiah 64:1-12

Isa 64:1

Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,

 

Then the prayer is continued by God’s people as a request for the appearance of God in some manner to bring hope to them, basically in a visible manner.  They desired to see the visible presence of the LORD just like in Revelation 19:11 when the LORD will return on the last day and all the world will see him come from Heaven.  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. (Revelation 19:11)  Then they desired to see the LORD come down to them as he did in Sinai when the mountain quaked at the presence of the LORD.  Then they desired that the mountains would flow down meaning that all hindrances would be removed and the LORD would come down to them without any impediments.  They desired to see the LORD work like he did in days of old because he seemed to be silent at this time yet the word was being brought through Isaiah so he wasn’t being silent.

 

Isa 64:2

As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!

 

They were desiring to that the LORD come down to them in a manner like a consuming fire which causes waters to boil.  They desired this so their enemies would know that they belonged to the true God and that would result in them fearing the LORD and would cause the nations before him to tremble.  It is almost like an imprecatory psalm where the people want the LORD to judge them and hopefully destroy them which would eventually be done but in the LORD’s timing.

 

Isa 64:3

When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.

 

They are now bringing up the past works of the LORD when he did terrible things which were frightening or awesome in the sight of his people.  He had done these things because he wanted to know that he was among his people especially at the times that they were in a state of obedience but in the time of Isaiah they were not obedient and the LORD was now dealing with them.  When the LORD dealt with the enemies of Israel, nothing could hinder his performing of those judgments.  He did it without any opposition from the nations being judged.  Their false gods could not stop any oncoming judgments from the LORD.

 

Isa 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.

 

Something which has been hidden from the beginning of the world in which no one could hear or see but only the LORD himself what he has prepared for those who wait for him.  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)  Those who wait upon the LORD and trust in his timing in every situation will experience what the LORD has planned.  I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. (Psalm 130:5)  The prepared heart for the LORD is also carried over into the New Testament.  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)  Not even the true Christian knows everything about what God has prepared for them.  We know generally but we do not have many specifics.

 

Isa 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.

 

The LORD meets the person who rejoices in him and works righteousness which are the true believers among the nation of Israel and among the world.  They have a remembrance of the ways that God worked in their own personal lives, in their country and against the enemies of his people and of him.  Here the people of Judah are acknowledging the fact that they have sinned against the LORD and as a result of their sins they knew that they have drawn the wrath of God upon them and they are not complaining but they are admitting their departure from the LORD.  If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near; (1 Kings 8:46)  Then they admit that their sins were done in continuation yet they also believed that they would be delivered from their sins but they had to do it God’s way and not of their own righteousness which is always subject to the individual.

 

Isa 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.

 

Then they admit that they have been unclean according to the law of Moses.  Their self-righteousness was as filthy rags which would point to the menstruous cloth from a woman or a cloth removed from a putrid sore from leprosy.  And the priest shall look on the plague, after that it is washed: and, behold, if the plague have not changed his colour, and the plague be not spread; it is unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire; it is fret inward, whether it be bare within or without. (Leviticus 13:55)  They have declared that their sins caused them to fade as a leaf just like a leaf on a tree starts to wither in the fall and then finally falls from the tree.  Then when that leaf is on the ground the wind comes and blows the leaves away and that is what sin did to them as they were blown away from the presence of the LORD because of their sin.

 

Isa 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.

 

Sin causes a person to be spiritually dead until the LORD grants them everlasting life by resurrecting their souls and as a result there is nobody in a state of spiritual death which has the ability to call upon the LORD.  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (Romans 3:11)  Being in a state of spiritual death, no person has the ability to stir themselves up.  The word “stirreth” in the Hebrew carries with it the meaning of “wake or raise themselves.”  As a result of spiritual blindness God has hidden his face because as Isaiah previously recorded that their sins have separated them from their God.  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2)  They had suffered so much because of their sins that they believed God had consumed or destroyed them and no doubt they remembered the verse in Deuteronomy.  For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:24)  They knew that their iniquities were the cause of this separation yet they continued in them instead of trying to bring themselves back to the LORD and seek his forgiveness.

 

Isa 64:8

But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

 

Now they acknowledge the fact that God is their father, the father in creation and redemption and they admit the fact that they are like clay in the hand of the potter who has the right to make out of the clay anything he wants to.  Jeremiah declared the same thing to the house of Judah.  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. (Jeremiah 18:6)  They admit they are the clay in the hands of the potter and that they are the work of the LORD’s hands as he is the creator of every person and has the right to do with them as he sees fit.

 

Isa 64:9

Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.

 

Then they go into the mode of seeking the LORD and asking him if he would turn away his anger from them and that the LORD would not remember their iniquities forever.  O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. (Psalm 79:8)  They were now seeking the mercy of the LORD not realizing that there is always a penalty for disobeying the LORD.  They were begging and imploring the LORD and then they claimed to be his people.  Did they claim to be his people when they were worshipping idols?  Did they claim to be his people when they were treating each other badly?  No they didn’t but now because they have to suffer the judgment of God for their sins, they now claim that they are God’s people.  How many times do Christians sin and when they are chastised for it, they seek the LORD in humility?

 

Isa 64:10

Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

 

All the surrounding cities in Judah were now in ruins because of the Babylonians and they were like a wilderness because the people were taken to Babylon and the cities are overgrown with animals and wild vegetation.  They use the term Zion to describe the condition of Judah in general that it is all like a wasteland or wilderness because of the absence of people.  Jerusalem the main city which contained the temple was also destroyed along with the temple being destroyed.  There would not be another temple for another seventy years when Zerubbabel would go back to Jerusalem and build the second temple which was much smaller than Solomon’s temple.

 

Isa 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.

 

Then they lamented the temple as their center of worship.  The temple was the center of Jewish life.  It was where they worshipped and gathered and it was where they knew that God was among them.  Now the Babylonians have burned the temple with fire to the ground because Zerubbabel had to lay a new foundation for the second temple.  The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. (Zechariah 4:9)  Then they lamented the fact that all their pleasant places were laid waste such as the king’s palaces or the palaces of the nobles, even their own homes were now destroyed but their main lament was for the temple being destroyed. 

 

Isa 64:12

Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

 

Based upon what they have brought before the LORD, would he refrain or hold back his judgment on those who did this to Zion.  Would God instead afflict his people at this time and not render judgment upon those who destroyed the temple and Jerusalem?  They wanted God to take vengeance upon the Babylonians which he eventually did but it was in his timing.  They thought that they would do better than the Babylonians since they did not do the things they did however they were still oblivious to the fact that they had the law of God and departed from it, the Babylonians did not have God’s law and so they did not know what God required of them.  The Jews had the law of God for about 700 years from the time of Moses and they broke that law many times but now it was time for them to be held accountable for their sin.

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