Isaiah 64
OGCEXAMINATION Chapter S SIXTY THROUGH SIXTY-SIX
DEFINITION
(Define the following words or phrases as they were discussed in the comments.)
wealth of the nations
covenant
Spirit upon me
married
meek
ensign
liberty
Edom
year of Lord’s favor
Zion
strangers
swine’s flesh
priests
new heavens and earth
MEMORIZATION
The _____ of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath _____ me to preach good tidings unto the _____; he hath sent me to _____ up the broken-hearted, to proclaim _____ to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are _____; to proclaim the year of Jehovah’s _____, and the day of vengeance of our God; to _____ all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in _____, to given unto them a _____ for ashes, the oil of _____ for mourning, the garment of _____for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called _____ of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah that he may be _____. (Isaiah 61:1-3)
EXPLANATION
Explain how Zion would be built by foreigners.
Explain what the One anointed by the Lord was to declare.
Explain the new name Zion was to receive.
Explain the Holy Spirit’s relationship to believers in the O.T.
Explain why God said former things would not be remembered.
Explain how God created a land in one day (brought forth at once a nation).
Explain how people of Zion look upon dead bodies.
APPLICATION
(In its context every scripture has one meaningthe author’s intended meaning. How may the following be applied in the believer’s life?)
Does Isaiah’s prediction of the year of the Lord’s favor at the coming of the Messiah apply to our understanding of biblical eschatology?
Does Isaiah’s symbolic use of Edom in chapter 63 contribute anything to present day understanding of the relation of Zion to the world?
Does the impatient prayer of Zion in Chapter s 64-65 have any application to New Zion?
How can we apply the statement, … bless himself in the God truth. to our concept of God today?
Does the symbolic use of new heaven and new earth in chapter 66 apply to our eschatological understanding of the O.T.?
What is the main application concerning the nature of God from the book of Isaiah?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
TEXTS
Biblia Hebraica, Rudolf Kittel, American Bible Society
Koren, Koren Publishers Jerusalem Ltd.
LEXICONS
Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, Benjamin Davidson Bagster
Langenscheidt Pocket Hebrew Dictionary, Karl Feyerabend, McGraw-Hill
The English and Hebrew Bible Student’s Concordance, Pick, Kregel Publishers
Hebrew and English Lexicon, Gesenius, Eerdmans
Hebrew and English Lexicon of the O.T., Brown, Driver, Briggs, Oxford
Synonyms of the Old Testament, Girdlestone, Eerdmans
TRANSLATIONS
King James Version
American Standard Version, 1901
Revised Standard Version, 1946-1952
The Berkeley Version
The New American Standard Version, 1960-1971
Living Psalms and Proverbs with The Major Prophets, Paraphrased
Four Prophets, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah, by J. B. Phillips
Today’s English Version, Good News Bible, 1976, pub. American Bible Society
COMMENTARIES
The Book of Isaiah, Three Volumes, Edward J, Young, Eerdmans
Exposition of Isaiah, Two Volumes, Herbert Carl Leupold, Baker
Isaiah, John Peter Lange, Zondervan
Isaiah, Two Volumes, Keil and Delitzsch, Eerdmans
Class Notes on Isaiah, V. K. Allison
Class Notes on Isaiah, Chester Williamson
Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah, Joseph A. Alexander, Zondervan Classic Commentary Series
I and II Kings, James E. Smith, pub, College Press
Old Testament History, Smith and Wilbur Fields, pub. College Press
ENCYCLOPEDIAS
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Eerdmans
Pictorial Bible Dictionary, Zondervan
Handbook to The Bible, Eerdmans
The International Jewish Encyclopedia, Isaacson and Wigoder, pub. Prentice-Hall
OTHER WORKS
The Doctrine of The Prophets, Kirkpatrick, Zondervan
Prophecy and The Church, Allis, Presbyterian and Reformed
The Grammar of Prophecy, Girdlestone, Kragel
New Testament Interpretations of Old Testament Prophecies, Bales, Harding
Prophecy Interpreted, Milton, Augsburg
The Divided Kingdom, Pfeiffer, Baker
Exile and Return, Pfeiffer, Baker
Israel and The Nations, Bruce, Eerdmans
The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic, D. S. Russell, pub. The Westminster Press
History of The Jews, Heindrich Graetz, pub. The Jewish Pub. Soc. of America
The Eternal Spirit, C. C. Crawford, pub. College Press
LIBERTY IS NOT LICENSE
INTRODUCTION
Bob Iverson tells of the man who went to one of the new style worship services in which a rock and roll record was being played at ear-shattering levels (Rolling Stones now hold Guinness record of decibels 120. SST Concorde Isaiah 130 decibels at take off). When he asked the young man in charge why such noise, the youth replied that this was an expression of doing one’s own thing. The older man, then, did his own thing by getting out his pocket knife and destroying the amplifier. This illustrates the human problem of knowing and practicing freedom or liberty.
I.
NO SUCH THING AS ABSOLUTE FREEDOM FOR MAN
II.
TRUE FREEDOM
A.
Is when human beings recognize their limitation and obligations
B.
Is always relative and relational. It is relative to the will of the Absolute Creator and in relation to knowing and abiding in His will and fellowship with other human beings.
C.
True freedom is:
Legacy
Not license
Liability
DISCUSSION
I.
LIBERTY IS OUR LEGACY
A.
Christ came to free mankind.
Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not continue in the house forever; the son continues forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:34-36
If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. John 8:31
The most important freedom Christ gives is freedom from falsehood. He reveals the real, abiding, saving, edifying TRUTH about who God is, who man is and how life is to be lived. You SEE, THE DEVIL LIED TO EVE AND ADAM ABOUT THAT AND HAS DECEIVED MOST OF MANKIND SINCE.. MAN ACTS ACCORDING TO WHAT HE BELIEVES. WHEN THE DEVIL DECEIVED MAN INTO BELIEVING AND DOING A LIE, HE ENSLAVED MAN WITH GUILT, FEAR AND SELFISHNESS.
B.
The real hindrance to true freedom is not God’s Law (His Will) BUT GUILT, FEAR AND SELFISHNESS.
These are the elements Satan uses to keep men in bondage (Hebrews 2:5-18) etc.
Freedom comes only by faith in Christ’s atonement, His priesthood, and His Lordship.
C.
Christ frees us from sin.
Sin is lawlessness.
The devil’s subtle lie is that freedom is found in rebellion. that we cannot really be free if we are going to let God tell us what is right or wrong.
What most people do not realize is that if we don-’t let God tell us then we let the devil tell us! And he lies. You see, man, limited to this world cannot determine right or wrong, reality or unreality, for that has its basis in what is beyond our finite existenceonly supernatural sources know ultimate truth.
Christ frees us from the slavery of lawlessness.
If you want an example of the slavery of lawlessness read Romans 1:18-32.
He also frees us from the guilt and penalty of sin.
D.
Christ frees us from fear.
It is through guilt and the fear of death and the judgment the devil keeps men enslaved to him.
Christ paid our penalty, died and rose again and we who are in covenant relationship with Him do not fear death.
We are not driven by a motive of fear of failure to keep God’s law. that is a never-ending, never attaining bondage.
We are forgiven, freed, adopted sons and now serve willingly from love.
By faith the law of love is transformed into the love of law and almost in proportion as the law is loved, it ceases to be felt as law at all, but privilege and blessing!
THE LOVE OF GOD MASTERS THE CHRISTIAN, AND THE MASTERY OF LOVE IS FOUND TO BE PERFECT LIBERTY.
E.
Christ frees us from inordinate love of self.
L. H. Marshall in his, The Challenge of N.T. Ethics, says, Jesus attributes all moral evil to the self-will that knows not the rule of God, page 31.
Selfishness enslaves us. We become incapable of growth; we become unteachable, impenetrable, unloving.
Selfishness destroys creativeness, the ability to appreciate and enjoy.
The selfish person imprisons himself, fetters himself, hinders himself more than any man who has ever been imprisoned in any concentration camp.
II.
LIBERTY IS NOT LICENSE.
A.
God has objectively, judicially and propositionally freed me.
God has emotionally, willingly loved me when I was unlovely. and He did it in such a way that it breaks my rebellious heart. and I love Him.
Loving Him is not something I can produce without an adequate cause. We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).
Jesus commanded His disciples to love others as He loved them. Perfect love has its origin and reproduction in the divine Lover.
Our love is a rebounda reactiona response.
Love is both a motive and a force operating on the human will.
Love moves a person to want to do something.
B.
The love of Christ constrains me, but constrains me from what or to do what?
Love is not self-defining.
Even in the Garden of Edenin innocence, man’s liberty and freedom could only be enjoyed and expressed within divine guidelines.
Before man had ever been deceived by falsehood, God told man what to do to love his Creator.
The creaturely nature of man forbids absolute license.
God must be allowed to tell us how to love and what to love.
C.
Liberty is not self-defining.
C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity, page 39:
What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could -be like gods-‘could set up on their own as if they had created themselvesbe their own mastersinvent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God. The reason why it can never succeed is this. God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about His will.
Anything God forbids He does so to free us from anything which is not His nature.
Anything God commands He does so to create in us the divine nature.
D.
Liberty is found in order. God is order. Our lives must operate within order and discipline.
An ancient writer of Athens illustrated the consequences of license and disorder this way:
A farmer, not wishing to take the time and effort to sort his harvest, threw into his granary barley and wheat and peas together. But then, when he wanted barley bread or wheat bread or pea soup, he had to pick them grain by grain, instead of having them separately stored and easily accessible.
In 1776 George Mason wrote this statement into the Virginia Declaration of Rights: … the blessings of liberty can (not) be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.
Edmund Burke, British statesman 1727-1797, said: (Liberty) cannot exist unless a controlling power on the will and appetite is placed somewhere; and the less there is within, the more there must be of it without.
Discipline is not antagonistic to liberty. License is not proof of freedom. The test of the greatness of liberty is the extent to which we can obey self-imposed law.
As Christians we are free to move responsibly within an orbit as wide as the revealed will of an all-knowing, all-loving, all-true, all-holy God.
A study in 1968, entitled Studies in Self-Esteem, of young men from homes where parents demanded high standards of behavior and performance and where firm discipline was a fact. findings. suggest. the development of independence and self-reliance is fostered by a well-structured, demanding environment rather than by largely unlimited permissiveness and freedom to explore in an unfocused way. (See Education In America, by G. Charles Roche, III, pub. Fee, p. 142.)
III.
LIBERTY IS LIABILITY.
A.
Booker T. Washington, in his book, Up From Slavery, describes the scenes among the blacks on the night of the proclamation of their freedom. There was no sleep that night.. All was excitement.. Early in the morning we were all sent for. The proclamation was read and we were told that we were free and could go when and where we pleased.. There was great rejoicing, followed by wild scenes of ecstasy. But the wild ecstasy did not last long.. The great responsibility of being free seemed to take possession of them.. Now that they were liberated, they found possession of freedom to be much more serious business than they had anticipated.
B.
Freedom is never free! There is always a price that those who would possess it must pay. The price of freedom is responsibility. Those who demand freedom but are not willing to pay this price, seek, not freedom, but license.
C.
One man illustrates it as like the fundamental law of economics: There is no such thing as a free lunch. there are no moral bargains in freedom. Liberty has a priceit is responsibility.
A generation of young adults fed existentialism in education, art, and modern rock music, pursues the self-defeating course of aspiring to freedom while seeking to evade responsibility.
D.
Liberty demands self-mastery.
During a Fritz Kreisler concert, a young violinist sat enthralled. -Ohhh,-’ she sighed, -what I would give to have such finger dexterity, such mastery, such freedom!-’ Later she told the incomparable Kreisler that she would give her life to play as he did. The violinist looked at her compassionately, then said, -But, my dear, I did.-’
E.
The man who has not accepted the liability and paid the price to discipline himself has narrowed his freedom. A man who cannot deny himself, cannot choose.
More advance in rank in USN, more libertybut more responsibility.
More Christian maturity, more libertybut more responsibility.
F.
Liberty is a capacity, a potentiality.
We are freed by Christ to make possible the reaching of that capacity, that potentiality for which we were made. that beautifully free, purposeful, harmonious person, Christ demonstrated in the flesh it was possible to be!
Liberty is in being. not in things or circumstances!
The difference between a baby making random movements in his crib and the beautiful balance and coordination of a Willie Mays or Jack Nicklaus is the discipline and self-mastery and growth it takes to reach the potential.
The difference between a show-off, infantile, immature church of Christ in Corinth, and one that truly serves and-’ ministers and reflects the gospel of Christ, is the discipline and self-mastery those Christians would exercise in the liberties Paul declared they had as Christians.
Liberty is not license.
Paul wrote: All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but I will not be enslaved by anything. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. True liberty is having self-mastery to do what is right and good when we don-’t feel like it! Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to edify him. For Christ did not please himself. How DID CHRIST, THE FREEST, MOST LIBERATED PERSON EVER TO LIVE UPON THIS EARTH, KNOW SUCH LIBERTY? He found it surrendering self to the will of the Father as revealed in God’s Word.
Liberty cannot survive in a vacuum. Jesus illustrated this with His parable of the unclean spirit who returns to his house to find it swept and put in order, but empty, and goes and gets seven other spirits more evil than himself and re-occupies the liberated, but empty, dwelling place! CHRIST HAS LIBERATED US for SERVICE. HE HAS LIBERATED us TO LIBERATE OTHERS. LIBERTY IS NOT JUST TO ENJOY. IT IS TO USE! AND TO USE FOR HIS GLORY! LIBERTY IS NOT SELF-INDULGENCE, BUT SERVICE.
A famous poet once said, I have on my table a violin string. It is free, I twist one end of it and it responds. It is free. But it is not free to do what a violin string is supposed to doto produce beautiful music. So I take it, fix it in my violin and tighten it until it is taut. Only then is it free to be a violin string.
Each of us is free, if we choose, to be an untightened, unhampered piece of violin string and flop around or lie around and produce nothing. Or we are free, if we choose, to be tightened, constrained and tuned by the will of the Master and only then are we free to be what He can make us and produce what we were made to produce.
SPECIAL STUDY THE HOLY SPIRIT IN OLD TESTAMENT TIMES
by Ron Fisher Great Lakes Bible College
INTRODUCTION:
There is a wealth of teaching in the Bible with respect to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. He is said to do what only persons can do. He can speak, teach, search, reveal, lead, and forbid (1 Timothy 4:1; John 14:26; 1 Corinthians 2:10; Acts 16:6-7). He has the faculties of a person-mind, knowledge, affection, and will (Romans 8:27; 1 Corinthians 2:11; Romans 15:30; 1 Corinthians 12:11). He is shown to have the attributes of God. He is eternal (Hebrews 9:14). He knows what God knows (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). He exerts God’s power (Luke 1:35). He is everywhere present as God is (Psalms 139:7-10). He is the Spirit of holiness (Romans 1:4). We have every right to conclude, therefore, that a Bible study of the Holy Spirit is most valuable and essential.
A.
THE HOLY SPIRIT WORKED THE WORKS OF GOD IN OLD TESTAMENT TIMES.
He was present and active in the creation of the universe (Genesis 1:2).
He shared in creating man in the Godhead’s image (Genesis 1:26; Job 33:4).
He exerted power as from God (Judges 14:6; Micah 3:8).
He convicted men of sin and tried to turn them back to God (Genesis 6:3).
He cooperated in confounding arrogant men at the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:7).
B.
THE HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERED AND GUIDED GOD’S LEADERS.
During the very unsettled times covered by the book of Judges, God gave assistance to several judges with the presence of His Spirit.
a.
God sent His Spirit upon Gideon, encouraging him to rally the tribes of Israel against the Midianites and the Amalekites (Judges 6:33-35).
b.
God’s Spirit enabled Jephthah to defeat the sons of Ammon (Judges 11:29-33).
c.
God’s Spirit empowered Samson to slay a lion and to slay thirty men (Judges 14:6; Judges 14:19).
d.
God’s spirit was strong in Samson to prepare him to slay 1,000 Philistines (Judges 15:14).
Though Jehovah did not want Israel to have a king, when granting them their wish, He assisted Saul and David by bestowing His Spirit upon them.
a.
When Saul was anointed by Samuel as Israel’s first king, the Spirit came upon him to lead him in prophesying (1 Samuel 10:1; 1 Samuel 10:6; 1 Samuel 10:10).
b.
Once Saul was rejected by Jehovah, David was selected as Saul’s successor. As the Spirit came upon David, He deserted Saul (1 Samuel 16:12-14).
The Holy Spirit’s most extensive work of all in Old Testament times is found with respect to God’s prophets.
a.
Moses expressed the selfless, open-hearted wish that all of God’s people could be prophets under the guidance of His Spirit (Numbers 11:29).
b.
When one understands the Old Testament’s concept that the prophet must speak for and represent God to man exactly (Exodus 7:1-2), he can see the necessity of man’s being guided by the Spirit to be qualified as a prophet.
c.
In Nehemiah’s day, the Israelites stood a fourth of a day confessing their sins. Then they were admonished by Levites to recall the bountiful blessings God had showered upon their ancestors. Among these was the Spirit’s instruction of them through the prophets (Nehemiah 9:20; Nehemiah 9:30). Sadly, most of the nation would not give heed to the prophetic words spoken.
d.
Zeehariah observes how the people had hardened their hearts against the former prophets, even though the Spirit revealed Jehovah’s law and words through them (Zechariah 7:12). Jehovah promised not to listen to them just as they had not listened to Him.
e.
The most effective summary of Old Testament prophecy is found in the New Testament: 2 Peter 1:20-21. There it is declared that no prophecy of Scripture originates from human will. Rather prophets spoke as they were guided by the Spirit of God.
Though there are over 300 references to priests in the Old Testament, there is not one example of the Holy Spirit’s presence to guide them. This is probably best explained by the fact that their duties, mode of dress, and style of life were set down by divine revelation. Their obligation was to obey what God had already told them to do.
C.
THE HOLY SPIRIT ASSISTED SECONDARY LEADERS.
The leaders previously mentioned furnish illustrations of the major human leadership God provided and equipped for Israel.
There was also a back-up or assisting leadership which God prepared with Holy Spirit guidance.
During Moses-’ career of directing people of Israel over a period of 40 years of wandering, God commanded him to select 70 elders from among the population to act as his religious and civil assistants. This would lighten his burden of trying to deal fairly and adequately with almost three million people. God placed His Spirit upon these men, once they were chosen (Numbers 11:16-17; Numbers 11:25).
Joshua took Moses-’ place and led out to conquer Palestine for Israel and to settle the tribes in their new-found home. God had placed His Spirit within Joshua and asked Moses to ordain him to his task by the laying on of hands (Numbers 28:17).
God endued Bezalel and Oholiab with His Spirit so as to make them skilled tradesmen, fitted to prepare all the artistic designs and accompanying furniture of the Tabernacle. They exhibited superior skills which were worthy of God’s house of worship (Exodus 31:1-11).
D.
THE HOLY SPIRIT STRESSED THAT DEPENDENCE UPON HIM IS THE ONE WAY TO GOD’S VICTORY.
Through Isaiah Jehovah chastised the nation of Judah for making its own plans, not accepting His; for making alliances with Egypt and not with His Spirit (Isaiah 30:1-2). See also Isaiah 31:1-3. They were adding sin to sin. Their foul attitude is dramatized by the fact that they were refusing to listen to God’s instruction. They even bullied God’s prophets (seers), telling them not to prophesy what was right. They wanted to hear pleasant words and deceits (Isaiah 30:9-10).
Because Israel rejected God’s Spirit in the wildernesss wanderings, He turned against them as His enemies (Isaiah 63:7-14).
Under the figure of a lampstand holding seven lamps and supplied with lighting fuel by two olive trees, Zechariah conveyed a valuable lesson to Zerubbabel from God: accomplishment of God’s work is achieved by God’s Spirit, not by human might or power (Zechariah 4:1-6).
CONCLUSION:
The presence of God’s Spirit has played a fundamental role in His direction of men throughout both the Patriarchal and Mosaic Dispensations. Special men were selected for the Spirit’s indwelling so that they might lead God’s people correctly. These principles can minister to a better understanding of the Spirit’s work in New Testament times.
Isaiah 64:1-7
D. RESTLESSNESS OF ZION (cont-’d), Chapter S 63 - 64 4. PENITENTLY VEXED
TEXT: Isaiah 64:1-7
1
Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might quake at thy presence,
2
as when fire kindleth the brushwood, and the fire causeth the waters to boil; to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!
3
When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down; the mountains quaked at thy presence.
4
For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen a God besides thee, who worketh for him that waiteth for him.
5
Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou wast wroth, and we sinned: in them have we been of long time; and shall we be saved?
6
For we are all become as one that is unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment: and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
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 by means of our iniquities.
QUERIES
a.
Why has the attitude of the people now apparently changed?
b.
Is verse four quoted in 1 Corinthians 2:9?
c.
How does one take hold of God? (verse seven)
PARAPHRASE
O Lord we wish you would break open the impenetrable expanse of the skies that seems to be keeping You from coming down personally to us in all Your omnipotence making the whole earth shake and tremble with Your judgment. If you would intervene directly, Lord, Your righteous glory would consume our enemies like fire consumes brushwood and the fiery lava of volcanoes makes the waters boil. Yet, when we think about it Lord, if you came down thus You would do such awe-inspiring wonders that we do not even have language to describe them. Since the world was created no person anywhere has ever seen or heard of a God like You who works for those who patiently trust in Him. Lord, You gladly receive any man who comes to you doing righteousness and joyfully following in Your ways. But we have continued in our sinning; even when You expressed Your hatred of our rebellious ways we went right on sinning. How can we ever be saved? Yes, we all stand in relationship to You as one cut off from the covenant because of our uncleanness; any righteousness we might think we have is really non-existent and we are as legally unclean as the bloodstained rags of a woman at her monthly period. Like the leaves of autumn, we fade, fall and wither; our sins sweep us away like the wind blows away the autumn leaves, In spite of our very apparent condition, no one calls upon Your name and no one ever prods himself to make any firm commitment of his life to Your word. You have withdrawn Your grace from us and we are being consumed by the consequences of our sins.
COMMENTS
Isaiah 64:1-3 CRY: The complaint of the preceding passage begins to turn toward a cry of desperation which leads to a confession. The remnant is gradually coming to the attitude God is able to use in His messianic program. Now the cry is that Jehovah will tear an opening in the impenetrable black cloud that is standing in the way of His seeing their predicament and come down to help them. They are begging God to come in direct intervention as He did for their ancestors. God presented Himself as directly as He dared to Isaiah in His theophany in the temple (cf. Isaiah 6:1 ff). Why could the people not accept Isaiah’s testimony to that direct appearance and trust Him to deliver them from the impending captivity? For the same reason men and women today demand a physical appearance from God before they will believe when there is sufficient testimony to His incarnation in the New Testament!
The anticipation of Jehovah’s appearance is couched in the experiences of their ancestorsmountains quaking, fire burning, waters boiling, nations trembling, (cf. Exodus 19:16 ff; Psalms 144:5; Deuteronomy 32:22; Judges 5:4-5; Micah 1:3-4; Hebrews 1:4-6; Hebrews 3:3; Hebrews 3:15; Psalms 18:8-16, etc.). Should God appear directly He would consume the whole material universe (cf. Hebrews 12:18-21; 18:25-29). Instead of coming in His consuming Presence, He sent His Son to give the world a saving Presence. So when the people give more thought to what such a direct intervention of Jehovah would bring, they are moved to cry, O, Jehovah, if You came down thus You would do awe-inspiring deeds and wonders that not even we could anticipate! Should Jehovah appear on earth it would be overwhelmingno human language could express it, no human being could guess what it would be like! The great apostle Paul was caught up into the third heavens and saw things it was impossible for human language to describe (cf. 2 Corinthians 12:1-4).
Isaiah 64:4-7 CONFESSION: At last, the remnant, after contemplating the awesome holiness of Jehovah and His unsearchable power, confesses its sin and prepares to be clay in the Potter’s hand (cf. Isaiah 64:8). First, there is the confession of the uniqueness of Jehovah’s revelation of Himself and His relationship to those who wait (or trust) in Him. The people are at last testifying that Jehovah is quite unlike the idols. In fact, no one in all the world is able to know the mind, Spirit, deeds, person-hood of Jehovah unless Jehovah chooses to reveal Himself. And even then, man can know only as much of God’s mind as He chooses to reveal through His appointed spokesmen (prophets and apostles, etc.). This is the sense in which the apostle Paul quoted Isaiah 64:4 in 1 Corinthians 2:9. The nature of the living God is such that the human mind is incapable of discovering Him or inventing Himman must humbly wait until God reveals Himself and man must humbly accept both the instrumentality by which and the extent to which God reveals Himself.
The uniqueness of Jehovah stands out in contrast to all pretended gods most apparently in His faithfulness to be constantly present with those who seek righteousness and remember (walk in) His ways. The holiness of Jehovah was unique in contrast to all the gods of the heathen. At last the people are admitting that Jehovah requires men to rejoice in and work righteousness to enjoy His presence. They have come confessing as Hosea (Hosea 14:1-9) instructed their northern countrymen to do. This remnant of Isaiah’s disciples has been brought to its confession through the preaching of the prophet concerning the atoning suffering of the Servant and the future glory of Zion. They will produce a progeny of faithful servants (by implanting Isaiah’s message in their offspring) which will, in turn, bring the Messiah into the world (cf. Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:24-56; Luke 1:67-80; Luke 2:1-52; Luke 4:14-30, etc.).
Once man has been confronted with a revelation of Jehovah’s holiness and admits it, then he sees himself as he truly is, a sinner in need of Jehovah’s saving grace (cf. Isaiah 6:5-6). The remnant here acknowledges it has been a long time in its sin and in need of God’s grace; else, how shall it be saved? They see their uncleanness. They now realize they are spiritually cut off from Jehovah because He is absolutely holy and they have defiled themselves and are no longer worthy to stand in His presenceeven if He should come in answer to their prayer. This is quite different from the attitude expressed by some in Judah when they haughtily dared the Lord to come down and be present with them (cf. Isaiah 5:19). They see their uncleanness as a polluted garment using the figure of the ceremonial uncleanness of a woman at the time of her monthly period (cf. Ezekiel 36:17; Leviticus 18:24-28). The Hebrew word tame-’ is translated unclean and is the same word the leper is to cry out (Leviticus 13:45-46) indicating the confession here is a recognition of having been cut off from covenant relationship by their sin.
Not only are they experiencing the legal condemnation of their sin, they are also experiencing the psychological and social consequences of it. They are all withering and dying like leaves on a tree and their sin is tossing them about and blowing them away like the wind blows the fallen leaves. The tragedy of the situation is that sin is so pervasive in the nation, no one seems concerned enough to call upon the name of the Lord which involves taking hold of His word. Perhaps the none would be qualified by the fact that a few were calling on the Lord (Isaiah and the remnant). But there were so few Jehovah must still withhold His direct intervention (hid thy face from us) until the captivity comes and the nation is chastened and purified and a larger remnant is formed. The Hebrew word khazak is translated take hold but is usually more intense and translated hold fast as when Hagar was told to hold fast to Ishmael (Genesis 21:18) or when Pharaoh was holding on to the Israelites (Exodus 9:2). So now their sin is consuming themthey are suffering the due penalty of their sins (cf. Romans 1:28), and the nation as a whole does not turn to God and hold fast to Him for strengthit is going to be blown away into captivity.
Isaiah 64:8-12
- PLEA FOR VERIFICATION
TEXT: Isaiah 64:8-12
8
But now, O Jehovah, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
9
Be not wroth very sore, O Jehovah, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, look, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.
10
Thy holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion is become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
11
Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste.
12
Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Jehovah? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?
QUERIES
a.
Is there a change in attitude here?
b.
Is Jerusalem a desolation at this writing?
c.
What is their beautiful house?
PARAPHRASE
Now, Lord, we are pleading that You will intervene directly and relieve our present circumstances because, First, You alone are our Father. We are clay and You are our Former or Potter, the One who formed us with Your own hand. You should not be so angry with us, or keep on holding our sins against us, Lord, because we are begging You to remember, we are Your children. Second, the cities and villages of Your consecrated land, (even Zion, Jerusalem, the city where Your presence dwells) are being desecrated, profaned and ruined by Your enemies. And if they are not stopped, our beautiful temple, Your house, where our ancestors worshipped You is as good as ruined by the fires of our enemies. All our beautiful, peaceful land will be made a place of desolation and ruin. In view of all this, will You still withhold Your judgment upon our enemies and refrain from intervening for us and allow us to continue to be afflicted?
COMMENTS
Isaiah 64:8-9 OWNERSHIP: This last section of the petition of Zion, born of her restlessness, is a plea for Jehovah to verify His relationship to her. She offers two motives she thinks should move Jehovah to act and intervene directly to relieve her circumstances. First, the Lord should act immediately and supernaturally, on her behalf, because they have no other Father than Jehovah. The emphasis is on His exclusive Fatherhood. The literal Hebrew syntax would read, And, even so, Father of us You are, we are clay and You are former of us, and work of Your hand all of us are. Despite their uncleanness and their sin, Jehovah formed them like a potter forms clay. They now fall back upon that relationship as a last resort. This was not always their attitude. Once they refused to admit the potter-clay relationship (cf. Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 45:9-10)! That was when they thought they needed no help. But now it is a different story! Now they plead for His mercy and His immediate and direct help because they have suddenly realized He is the only Father they have!
Before we thank God that we are not like those people, let us remember that we have undoubtedly been as arrogant and then as helpless as they at one time or another in our Christian walk. All of us have tried, with Peter, to walk on the stormy sea of life by ourselves at one time; all of us have probably cried out as we began to sink, Lord save me! (cf. Matthew 14:29-31). But actually, this is where God wants us! This is where He wanted Zion! He could not save them until they allowed Him to do so. Of course, most of us want Him to save us right now, and according to our human program. But Jehovah is not only omnipotent, He is omniscient. His knowledge of what we need and when we need it is perfect. He is indeed our perfect Father.
A literal translation of verse nine would read, Do not be angry, Jehovah, unto strength, and do not eternally remember our sin. In other words, they are pleading that Jehovah not carry out His anger as strongly as He is capable of doing. That would obliterate them! Their plea is that they are His people. Their appeal is that Jehovah verify their status as His chosen people by intervening and saving them from impending captivity. Jehovah will deliver them from captivity and verify their election as His children when they do their part to verify their relationship to Him by obedience to His will as children should. Will Jehovah claim them as children? Yes, when they claim Him as Father! Will He verify they are His? Yes, when they verify He is theirs! Will He deliver them! Yes, when they allow Him to do so and when it is best for Him to do so! Ezekiel (Ezekiel 20:1-49) predicts this very thing! God does have a remnant and He will verify His ownership!
Isaiah 64:10-12 OMNIPOTENCE: The second motive Zion thinks should move Jehovah to act immediately on her behalf is the continuing plunder of Judah’s cities and villages by the Assyrians. This continuing plunder portends an even more disastrous day when the Temple may be put to the torch and the holy city itself, beautiful Jerusalem, may be overrun and ruined by the heathen hordes. It was evidently so imminent that the prophet spoke of it as if it were already happening! Jerusalem and the Temple were not completely destroyed and burned until 586 when Nebuchaddnezzar razed the whole city (cf. Jeremiah 52:13). Isaiah is not writing after the fact but using the predictive present.
The statement in Isaiah 64:12 sums up and presses home the point Zion is pleadingneed for immediate, direct intervention by Jehovah to deliver her from her enemies. God must not allow the land and the people who bear His name to be profaned lest His name be profaned throughout the world. Jehovah has acted in the past to vindicate His power and glorify His name; will He now remain silent? The Hebrew word khesheh is translated peace in Isaiah 64:12, but more literally means silence. The usual Hebrew word for peace is shalom. The phrase -ad-me-‘od which means, … unto strength. is repeated in this verse. In view of the continued plundering of the cities and the imminent razing of Jerusalem and the Temple, will Jehovah continue to keep silent and continue to afflict Judah so severely? Indeed He will so long as Judah keeps on walking in sin. One has only to read Jeremiah and Ezekiel to know that Judah not only continued but worsened in her sin and rebellion (cf. Ezekiel 5:5-6; Ezekiel 8:7-18) until finally Jehovah withdrew His glory from her altogether (Ezekiel 11:22-25).
For the sake of His name and the faithfulness of a small remnant, Jehovah delivered His people from their captivity and rebuilt their city and their temple. However, the rebuilt Jerusalem and Zerubbabel’s temple were temporary edifices used by the Lord to the ultimate end He sought and that was a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22), the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the church the presence of the Lord dwells now and forever more. An earthly Jerusalem and an earthly temple are now of no consequence to God and His people. Those who worship Him now and forever more worship in Spirit and in truth (cf. John 4:19-26).
QUIZ
What is the aim of Zion’s petition in these verses?
To what relationship does Zion appeal in her plea?
Does God want men to come to such helplessness as Zion exhibited here?
Why does Zion remind the Lord of what is happening to the cities?
Did God ever deliver Zion?
What was God’s ultimate deliverance?