CHRIST CHURCH
Sunday 27 November' 2005
8,00 and 10.00am
Isaiah 64:1-9
It doesn't seem all that long since it was Advent
Sunday 2004 and that Sunday I was standing here speaking
from lsaiah chapter two. This moming I want io
speak from lsaiah chapter 64' and
there's a remarkabte theme of unity in lsaiah's
prophecies; the overriding theme is the prophet
directing us toward God's coming in redemption and
salvation, and God's coming in glory and in judgment
Advent of course, by it's very name directs our
thoughis toward God's coming; his coming in JesusChrist;
Jesus,coming at Bethlehem to a life which culminated in theCross,the
Resurrection- salvation and redemption, and we
also look fonvard io that day when Jesus
will come again in glory as the Son of Man, depicted in Daniel chapter
seven,and,as Philip directed our thoughts last Sunday, when God
will come as Judge
Isaiah's book of prophecy is really quite a
remarkable book. It's a book of 66 chapters' and it's
interesting that there are 66 books in the Bible. Even
more, lsaiah's prophecy divides into two
parts. The first part, of 39 chapters, was written in
Jerusalem, and deals very much with the warning of
God,sjudgment to an apostate people, and also deals with Old Testament
themes-the
awareness of sin, God's hand in the choice and
history of lsrael, God's, judgment on that nation as
it turned its back on him; and awareness of sin,
reflecting the 39 books of the Old Testament
Then there are the remaining 27 chapters,
dealing with the themes of the 27 books of the New
Testament; dealing first of all with
God's coming to this world, with the clarion call
"Prepare the
way of the Lord" in chapter 40 and then going
through the chapters dealing with the Suffering
Servant, who personifies the coming Lord Jesus Christ,
and then final seven chapter (60-66)
which deal with the forward look to God coming in glory and in judgment.
As we look at that reading from chapter 64 this
morning we recognise that lsaiah is looking forward
to that coming of God in glory and in judgment. He
applies his theme also, of course, to
his contemporary situation- for which is was primarily written. The people are now in exile
banished to Babylon, and the prophet looks forward
in the context to which he prophesies. He cries for
God to come and intervene; to come and intervene in
the situation in which God's people find themselves. God is
a God who, throughout history, has intervened He has
intervened in the history of lsrael, in the
history of the church, in salvation and in judgment'
We begin lsaiah 64 with that great cry:
Oh that you would rend
the heavens and come down, that the mountains
would tremble before you.
If we had read the latter verses of chapter
63, we would have seen lsaiah looking rather wistfully back to
those times when God had intervened in the nation's
history to deliver. when God had delivered them out of the hand
of Pharoah and brought them out of Egypt, and to whe:n Gcd
had led them to Mount Sinai, where he had come down
and the mountain had trembled,
where God gave the Law to Moses and also where he had given the
people the first Covenant; a covenant sealed with the
sacrificial blood scattered on ihe altar and on
the people. Yes, Isaiah's
looking back. You did
awesome things we did not expect, you came down, the
mountains trembled before you..You came to the help of
those who gladly do right, who remember your ways
And lsaiah is pleading with God now to intervene on behalf
of the people; to bring them back again perhaps, back
again out of exile. lsalah wants God to come
down and put all things right. The day will be when God will put
all things right. That is the promise given at the
end of the Bible, and at the end of Isaiah's prophecy.
Behold I will create new
heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be
remembered nor will they come to mind. But be glad and
rejoice for ever in what I will create. I will take
delight in my people, the sound of weeping and of crying will be
heard no more.
Let's just learn two lessons from what we've looked at thus far:
-God is not a remole God who looks on dispassionately; a lesson we need for our times
-Isaiah pleads with God, and begins with reminding God about his
character and of the things he has done. How effective might our
prayers be if we remembered this rather than
charge straight in.
But lsaiah is a realist- He realises there is a
blockage to God acting; to his intervening; to his 'coming
down' That hindrance is sin. Lawrence Richards in his
commentary says this on that, section from verses 5 to 7:
'The modern apologist asks "How can God judge so
brutally? How can he trample men like grapes?" But Isaiah
asks, "How then can we be saved?" These verses
contain a complete though brief description of the impact of sin
on human beings
Already in chapter 63, lsaiah has spoken of how sin hardens the human heart. Why, O Lord, do you make us wander from your ways, and harden our hearts, so that we do not revere you?
It behoves us if we would follow lsaiah's
message to listen to what he says about sin. We
tend in this day and age to take it lightly, and
for that reason alone it behoves us to stop and
consider.
Sin does first and foremost harden us; we can speak of a 'sin-seared conscience'. Sin does rob
us of the desires for God and the things of God.
Now in chapter 64 lsaiah says when we continue to sin...you are angry.
Our God is angered by our sin. Now I may well have
said this before, but it bears repeating,
God's anger is not as
human anger. lt is the set opposition of a holy God to all
that is unholy, impure and in rebellion to him. When
we sin we rebel against God. Sin is against God's way and thus
against the very
nature of those created in his image; our sin despoils the
peak of his creation- In verse 6 Isaiah says that sin makes
us unclean. Even our righteous acts are like filthy rags- literally like
menstrual cloths. Our very righteous acts, the
very best we can do, are like that! Sin makes us want more
sin and less, not more, of God. Oh that we could have
but some of lsaiah's revulsion
at sin.
But- lsaiah doesn't finish there.
He then goes on to remind God of his nature:
Yet, O Lord, you are our Father
Yet. or more often 'but' is a very important word in
the Bible. Sin is not the last word. God is a God who intervenes. and
who does so to save us from that sin. When
lsaiah spoke of God as
Father he would be understood as speaking of God as
Father of the nation of Israel. When we come to the
New Testament we have a much deeper and
personal understanding of God's
Fatherhood. Jesus taught his disciples to address God
as 'Father'; as 'Abba'- a word used by a child to its
Father; a word of intimacy.
When all seems lost, when all seems sin, when all seems
under God's judgment we can cry out to him 'Abba'.
'Father', and remember we can cry out to him
and remind him of his steadfast
love, remind him he is 'Father', just as did Isaiah.
Isaiah went on the speak of God as the potter, us as
the clay. It is when we come to God with that attitude of
humility, knowing we can do nothing, that he can mould us
into his beauty that he
can intervene.