ISAIAH 63-64
PART 21
It has
been a while since our last lesson from the Book of Isaiah. I probably should
not have spread it out so much, but because of its length and because it’s a
bit tedious in parts, I thought it would be best. We are almost finished with
this major prophet and we will finish this book up next Sunday night. Tonight,
we will begin by looking at the first 6 verses of Chapter 63.
Isaiah 63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom, With dyed
garments from Bozrah, This One who is glorious
in His apparel, Traveling in the greatness of His strength? --
"I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save." 2 Why is Your
apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? 3 " I
have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with
Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their
blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes. 4 For the day of vengeance is in
My heart, And the year of My redeemed has come. 5 I looked, but there was no
one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold; Therefore
My own arm brought salvation for Me; And My own fury, it sustained Me. 6 I have trodden down the peoples
in My anger, Made them drunk in My fury, And brought
down their strength to the earth."
The
first 6 verses stand by themselves in this chapter. Some critics even claim
they seem to be out of place, but most scholars believe they are right where
they should be. There are also different thoughts on who is being talked about here. I will
just mention the two most logical views because either view does no harm to the
text. First, some believe that is simply referring to how God would be the one
responsible for the fall of the Edomites. The second
view is that our text gives us a glimpse of the judgment day as executed by
Jesus. Both of these views picture the Father or Jesus as carrying out the
judgment. Similar language is used in the Book of Revelation in chapter 19.
Instead of trying to break this figurative language down and show which view is
more correct, I just want to share the general message we can take from this
regardless of which view is correct.
These
verses show how God is in control and even when no man is there to carry out
His will, God can still destroy His enemies. He is pictured as having his
garments stained with the blood of the those who have
opposed His way. No one, and I mean no one can stand
against the wrath of God. Only God can provide salvation. So, whether our text
refers to the Father carrying out His judgment on the Edomites
by Himself or Jesus carrying out the judgment on judgment day, both views show
God being in control and am capable of handing out judgment on His own and and shows that He can provide salvation for His people.
The rest
of the chapter focuses on reminding the children of Israel of what God had done
for them, yet they are in this rebellious state.
Isaiah 63:7 I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD And
the praises of the LORD, According to all that the LORD has bestowed on us,
And the great goodness toward the house of Israel, Which He has bestowed on
them according to His mercies, According to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses. 8
For He said, "Surely they are My people,
Children who will not lie." So He became their Savior. 9 In all their
affliction He was afflicted, And the Angel of His Presence saved them; In His
love and in His pity He redeemed them; And He bore them and carried them All
the days of old.
This is so true because God loved His people. Since He
was willing to save them from their enemies and did many great things for them,
you would expect they would be faithful and loyal to God, but they were not.
Starting from the time that God delivered them from their Egyptian bondage to
this time in history, they rebelled against Him over and over again. They took
His power and the blessings He gave them for granted. Many do this today as
well.
Verse 9 really shows how involved God is with His people
because it says that when they were afflicted, He was afflicted. Think about
that for a min because this same principle applies to us today. God loves us
and when He sees us hurt, He hurts. So, the next time you think you are alone
in your suffering and that no one can understand the pain you are going through,
God can and does. He is right there hurting with you. This same idea is expressed
by Jesus in the later part of Mt. 25 because He talks about how when someone
does something kind or not so kind to those that belong to Him, it is just like
doing it to Jesus. When you really think about it that should
make you feel really good as a Christian knowing that God feels your pain.
You will also notice in our text it talks about the Angel
of His Presence saved them. I have presented several lessons on the indenty of the Angel of the Lord in the O.T. and showed
that it was none other than Jesus before He came
flesh. No, this does not mean that Jesus was a created angel, which is one
possible meaning of the word, but when it refers to Jesus it simply means messenger
of God. So, I do not want anyone
thinking that I am trying to downgrade Jesus to a mere heavenly angel because
the Book of Hebrews declares that He is the Son of God and greater than these
heavenly angels. If you would like to learn more about the Angel in the O.T.
being the pre-incarnate Jesus, just let me know I will give you a copy of those
lessons.
This Angel was used to help save the children of Israel
from of the problems they faced and God did this because he felt sorry for His
people. Again, this shows how compassionate our God is.
Isaiah 63:10 But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; So He turned Himself
against them as an enemy, And He fought against them.
We just
talked about God the Father, and the Angel being God the Son. Well, in verse
10, we have the Holy Spirit. So, we have all 3 members of the Godhead mentioned
in this Chapter. When the children of Isreal rebelled
against God it grieved the Holy Spirit. The same thing is said to grieve the
Holy Spirt in the N.T. (Eph. 4:30). Though God loves
His people, when they rebel, He is a just God, and He will work against His
people. We see that happening many times throughout the O.T. God does not do
this to be mean or to get revenge. It has an important purpose, which is to get
His people to realize they need to change their rebellious ways. So, it is an
act of love. The same principle is taught in the N.T.
Hebrews 12:5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
"My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged
when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges
every son whom He receives." 7
If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is
there whom a father does not chasten? 8
But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you
are illegitimate and not sons. 9
Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them
respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of
spirits and live? 10 For they
indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He
for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be
joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the
peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Isaiah 63:11 Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his
people, saying: "Where is He who brought them up out of the
sea With the shepherd of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit
within them, 12
Who led them by the right hand of Moses, With His glorious arm, Dividing
the water before them To make for Himself an everlasting name, 13 Who led them through the deep,
As a horse in the wilderness, That they might not stumble?" 14 As a beast goes down into the
valley, And the Spirit of the LORD causes him to rest, So You lead Your people, To make Yourself a glorious name.
When it says “he remembered the days of old” this is not
referring to God but to the the children of Israel as
whole. Once they rebelled against God and faced the consequences of their
actions, like the Prodigal Son, they would start to remember how great God is
and all that He had done for them both miraculously and through His providence.
They will remember how all these wonderful things He did showed how glorious
His name is.
This same thing happens to Christians today, because as
life goes on and things are good, they tend to take God and His blessings for
granted, but when something shakes them up and makes them open up their eyes to
their condition, it will cause them to remember the goodness of God and all
that He offers. It is a shame that we let ourselves go so far, but we should be
thankful that God will always take us back as long we turn back to Him and turn
away from our sinful ways.
Now, in the remainder of our verses, Isaiah
is praying to God to save His
people because He is their Father:
Isaiah 63:15 Look down from heaven, And see from Your habitation, holy and
glorious. Where are Your zeal and Your
strength, The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me? Are they
restrained? 16 Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of
us, And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; Our
Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name. 17 O LORD, why have You made us stray from Your ways, And hardened our
heart from Your fear? Return for Your servants' sake, The
tribes of Your inheritance. 18
Your holy people have possessed it but a little while; Our adversaries have trodden down Your sanctuary. 19 We have become like those
of old, over whom You never ruled, Those who were
never called by Your name.
Isaiah
pleas for the Father of heaven to look down and take notice of their situation. The children of Israel can see
that God has removed His protection because of their many sins, yet Isaiah wants
a quick fix, but a quick fix is not always to be had because they are still
going to have to deal with the consequences of their actions. Since the
situation is so desperate, you see Isaiah asking where God is and why He is not
doing anything about it. He knows that God has the power to save, yet we see
God being blamed for hardening their hearts. You see him complaining about how
they have not received the blessing of God long enough. The children of Israel would
experience what it is like when God is not there to deliver them and uphold
them.
How many
times of Christians found themselves feeling this same way. They fall away from
God and get wrapped up in sin, but when they finally decide to cry out to God,
they expect Him to fix their problem right away. If their situation does not improve
today, then they have a tendency to start blaming God for their situation or
start accusing Him of not being able to do anything. I understand that we have
a tendency to break down when times get tough and there seems to be no relief
in sight. Whether you are a faithful Chrisitan or a
fallen Christian turning back to God, we have to accept that God knows what is
best. He will always do what is best in our lives, but we have to trust in His
timing and His answers.
In our
next chapter, we find Isaiah continuing to pray to God and asking that the Lord not forsake
His people. He confesses their sins to God and acknowledges that God is in
control.
Isaiah 64:1 Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your
presence -- 2 As fire burns
brushwood, As fire causes water to boil -- To make Your name known to Your
adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! 3 When You
did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, The
mountains shook at Your presence. 4
For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by
the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who
acts for the one who waits for Him.
Isaiah is pleading with God to make His presence known.
In fact, He wants Him to come down in a big way like He did when Moses was at
Mount Sinai. Isaiah is tired of seeing His people suffer under the hand of
their enemies. He wants their enemies to see how powerful and strong God is so
that they tremble at His presence. Isaiah points out how there is no other God
like God almighty.
Isaiah 64:5 You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness,
Who remembers You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned
-- In these ways we continue; And we need to be
saved. 6 But we are all like
an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as
a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. 7 And there is no one who
calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold
of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of
our iniquities.
Isaiah points out how God will be with you and help you
when are living for Him and upholding the righteous way. James echoes this idea
in:
James 4:8 Draw near
to God and He will draw near to you.
I can promise you that God will let you do whatever you
want to do. He will not force Himself on you because you have a free will. You
have to choose to serve Him and live for Him. If you make the right choice, He
will be there for you, but if you choose to ignore Him and the help He can
provide, He will allow you to be on your own. The children of Israel made their
choice. They were corrupt. They were stained with sin. They were unclean and
like a filthy rag. Now if you want to know what this filthy rag is referring
to, I will let you look it up on your own in Leviticus 15:19-30, but the point
is that these people had become so full of sin that were unclean and unfit to
be God’s people.
There is a principle here that shows the domino effect.
If you think it is ok sin one time, then it will not be long till 2 or 3 or
more sins will be acceptable in your mind. The longer this continues on the
more buried in sin you become. The children of Israel were so far gone that
they were not even praying to God to help them, but Isaiah is praying for them.
The lesson here is do not play with sin or think that
one sin will not matter that much because it will lead you down the wrong path.
As Christians, we should treat each sin no matter how small it may seem in our
minds as being something we must avoid so that we do find ourselves separated from
God.
Also, we should never allow ourselves to get to the point
where we think we have messed up too much and so we think we might as well
continue to drown in sin. While we may continue to face the consequences of our
sins, we can become right with God. James tells us how in:
James 4:8 … Cleanse your
hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let
your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Our chapter ends with verses 8-12. Let’s look at verse:
Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are
the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.
Isaiah is proclaiming that God is in control and he knows
that God can do great things for His people. A great example of what is meant
here about God being the potter and us being the clay comes from:
Jeremiah 18:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD,
saying: 2 "Arise and go
down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My
words." 3 Then I went
down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the
wheel. 4 And the vessel that
he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into
another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. 5 Then the word of the LORD came
to me, saying: 6 "O
house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the LORD.
"Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!
7 "The instant I speak concerning a nation and
concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, 8 "if that nation against whom
I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought
to bring upon it. 9 "And
the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and
to plant it, 10
"if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I
will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it. 11 " Now therefore, speak to
the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the
LORD: "Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you.
Return now every one from his evil way, and make your
ways and your doings good." ' "
Of course, Jeremiah is teaching the same principle as
Isaiah, which is God is in control. If you do evil, He will be against you and
break you, but if you live righteously, He will mold you and protect you. Let us
never forget this basic principle about God.
Isaiah 64: 9
Do not be furious, O LORD, Nor remember iniquity
forever; Indeed, please look -- we all are Your people! 10 Your holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. 11 Our holy and beautiful temple,
Where our fathers praised You, Is burned up with fire; And
all our pleasant things are laid waste. 12
Will You restrain Yourself because of these things,
O LORD? Will You hold Your peace, and afflict us
very severely?
One thing we must continue to remember that I should have
probably reminded you of at the beginning of the lesson is that much of what
Isaiah is revealing has not happened yet though many times he describes as if
it had. As a prophet, he was given the ability to know what was going to
happen. His book contains many prophecies about the future some that would
happen soon and some that would happen around 800 years later. For example, the temple nor the city had been burned yet, but it was
going to happen because of their sins.
Remembering this might give you a new perspective of why
Isaiah was pleading with God so hard. Put yourself in his shoes. If you could
see into the future and know that something devastating was going to help to
your nation because of their sins, would you not do everything in your power to
try and stop it or to try and get God to stop it? I think most people would and
this is what Isaiah is trying to do. Could you imagine how stressful it would
be to be Isaiah knowing what you knew?
Isaiah ends his prayer to God with several more questions
wanting to know if God is really going to allow all these horrible things to
happen to His people. God will make His response to what Isaiah has prayed in
the next chapter, which we will look at next week.
One last point I want to make is that we are kind of like
Isaiah. No, we are not prophets, but we do know the future about the lost because
God’s Word tells us that the unrighteous will spend eternity in hell if they do
not turn to God and obey His will. The question is,
what are you doing about this knowledge? Does it motivate you to warn and plead
with the lost? Do you spend time praying to God for how you might be able to get
these sinful people to open their eyes before it is too late? Let us learn from
Isaiah and the sinful people of his nation and the consequences of their sins
of how important it us for us to do everything in our power to influence our
communities and our nation to wake them up from their sinful ways before it is
too late.