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Today we're gonna be reading from The book of Isaiah as our theme today is hope and thinking about prophecy which is our advent theme,
Isaiah 64 versus one through nine.
This section of scripture finds the Israelites deep in the heart of exile.
Isaiah's a fascinating book that actually seems to deal with events before the exile, during the exile and after the exile.
And it would seem that this is a section that is reflecting on the times that they have had away from their homeland and they're reflecting on God- the one in whom they have been put in a perilous position to trust.
Isaiah 64 verse one says that
“Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!”
This is an acknowledgement of their need as well as our need for God's presence and His power in the midst of challenges.
Have you ever had times where you just long for the presence of God? Maybe you're in the midst of so much pain, so much confusion that you long to see God coming down from the clouds?
I often long for his presence because I want everyone to know him- to experience Him.
I strongly believe this is what fuels our longing for Jesus’s return.
It fuels our end-times longing.
People are always looking for signs of the end times.
perhaps looking at the events in Israel, or even what is going on in our homeland.
And in a way, it's right for us to feel this way because we're longing for God and longing to see God's justice in person.
And I think that’s where we find the Israelites here. The author Isaiah is longing to see God.
And in Isaiah chapter 64, verse two, it says,
As when fire sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
and cause the nations to quake before you!
Isaiah is invoking the imagery of fire.
Specifically, God's justice raining down like a fire on their opposition. Kinda reminds you of John and James when they asked Jesus in Luke 9 if he wanted them to bring down fire to the Samaritans who were oppressing them.
Fire is a powerful classical element (along with earth, water, and air). It cleanses, it destroys, it is dramatic in its sight.
How impressive is it at night when you’re driving down the road, and see plumes of fire coming up from these gas plants, and you can see 'em from a pretty great distance!
And so Isaiah is expressing his deep longing to see God
And eventually, we see in the book of Acts, the holy spirit comes down like tongues of fire. Prophecy fulfilled!
And Isaiah 64, verse three reads,
For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
And so God's past deeds were inspiring acts, and they were witnessed by his ancestors just like in Joshua 10:13,
“So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.”
God caused time to stand still, which I believe literally happened.
And let's not forget when God destroyed the world with water,
Or when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with a ball of fire,
these are the mighty acts of God- guidestones that the ancient people and we alike can look back on and remember who it is that we trust in.
My salvation is in Jesus Christ who is awesome.
Our God is an awesome God.
But continuing on in verse four,
we read that God's acts are for those who wait for him and joyfully do righteousness.
Isaiah 64 verse four says,Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
This reminds me of Psalm 125,
and this is a Psalm of David, a Psalm of ascent that starts with this verse.
Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
Verse two reads,
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people
both now and forevermore.
Psalms like these are songs the pilgrims would sing as they were ascending the steps to the temple. And so those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion. The modern explanation or mount Zion is a western mountain just outside of the old wall in Jerusalem (the Wailing wall)
This could also be referring to the city of David- which was a stronghold in it’s time,
But I think We're specifically talking here about the mountain of the Lord. Mount Moriah.
Continuing on one Isaiah chapter 64 verse five reads,
“You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?”
A major step in our salvation is to realize and confess our sin even when righteousness seems very far away.
There are people in your life for which you may ask, how can they possibly be saved? Is there hope for them?
But really we should be asking, Is there hope for any of us?
In verse 6, the writer compares our sins to filthy rags.
It says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”
Romans chapter three verses 19, two through 23, elaborates a little more on this, situation of uncleanliness.
***Verse 19 reads, Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
Verse 20 says,
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin..
There’s a thought- doesn’t that change our point of view on the law? It’s not something we live by, but simply something that reveals our sin- and our need for repentance and salvation.
Verse 21 reads, But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
Verse 22, This righteousness is given through faith in[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,
And verse 23 says, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
And so we have no righteousness of our own, and the law only serves to reveal to us sin.
Fast forwarding to the end of this scripture, Isaiah 64, verse 10 tells us,
Your sacred cities have become a wasteland;
even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.
(Elaborate on desolation?)
11
Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned with fire,
and all that we treasured lies in ruins.
12
After all this, Lord, will you hold yourself back?
Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?
The writer of Isaiah is reflecting on the consequences of forsaking God.
The Babylonian exile (in which they find themselves) occurred because the people had turned away from God.
Remember in 1 Kings 12 when Jereboam became King of the northern kingdom of Israel- and what was the first thing he did? He built a golden calf.- and not just one, but two!
And, it was because of this that God promised many times to the Israelites that he was doing a new thing and that he would be sending an army from the north to overtake them.
This brings about the need to recognize that we are frail, that humans are like clay molded by God, yet often failing to call upon his name. People in need of a savior
Isaiah chapter 64 verse seven tells us
No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to our sins.
Verse eight says,Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
This is a message of divine mercy and restoration.
It's God.
It's the hand of God who restores us to a right relationship with him.
And We only get the status that we have today as Christians because of the work of God's hand.
The potter, Romans chapter nine, tells us in verse 19,
One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?”
And Paul says in verse 20,
But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”
Verse 21 says,
Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
Verse 22, What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?
Romans chapter nine, verse 23 reads,
What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”[i]
26 and,
“In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”
And so This is the promise of Christmas.
This is the promise fulfilled that Isaiah was longing for whenever he wrote this.
Oh, that we would see God and experience him and that his love would, transform this world.
Isaiah 64:9 pleads to God
Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord;
do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look on us, we pray,
for we are all your people.
Because Jesus came into the world
because the word became flesh and because of his actions, we can have eternal life.
Revisiting that scripture in Hosea, let’s see what God says.
“In that day I will respond,”
declares the Lord—
“I will respond to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
22
and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and the olive oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.[h]
23
I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.[i]’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,[j]’ ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
Friends, We have been adopted to sonship of the God of the universe- and that’s good news. That’s the best news ever.