Continuing the entreaty for mercy begun in 63:15, chapter 64 begins with an emotional outcry: “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down” (1). Isaiah calls on the Lord to make a dramatic entrance into their dire situation—to burst forth in an unmistakable way “from heaven” and His “holy and beautiful habitation” (63:15). Isaiah asks the Lord to come, as He did before, in a way that make the mountains quake at His presence (1). As fire quickly engulfs dry brush and causes water to boil, Isaiah wants the Lord to blaze forth so “that the nations might tremble at your presence” (2).
This type of dramatic arrival was experienced (“heard” and “seen”—4) by Israel in previous generations. Isaiah recalls a previous time when God “came down” and “the mountains quaked at your presence” (3). The Lord’s intervention was both unmistakeable and unexpected: “When you did awesome things that we did not look for” (3). Isaiah looks back to the time God came down unexpectedly to rescue His people from Egypt and to reveal Himself at Sinai; the mountain literally quaked and was enveloped with fire and smoke (Exod. 19:18). By His grand arrival and great deliverance, the Lord demonstrated His own uniqueness: “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him” (4).
Isaiah’s prayer shifts in verses 5-7 as he acknowledges a painful reality: Israel doesn’t deserve God dramatic rescue. For while it’s true that the Lord meets “him who joyfully works righteousness,” Israel has not done this. In fact, they have remained mired in their sins “a long time” (5). From a human perspective, they seem beyond redemption (“shall we be saved?”—5 ). The whole nation (“all”) has become polluted: “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (6). They have faded and withered “like a leaf”, blown and carried away by the winds of their iniquities (6). Sadly, no one seems urgent to seek God’s forgiveness or favour: “There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you” (7). As a result, the Lord has “hidden” his face from His people, leaving them to melt and disintegrate in their sins (“melt in the hand of our iniquities”—7).
Isaiah sees the polluted and pitiful condition of his people, but he refuses to give up interceding for them. As he did earlier in his prayer (63:16), he appeals to the covenant relationship Israel has with the Lord: “But now, O Lord, you are our Father” (8). While Abraham and Jacob might not recognize them in their sorry state, the Lord still knows them to be His children. He formed them as a nation, like a potter forms the clay. They are His children and His creation (“the work of your hand”—8).
On the basis of this relationship, Isaiah pleads for the Lord to soften His anger towards His people: “Be not to terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever” (9). Echoing the opening line of his prayer (63:15), Isaiah once again asks the Lord to take a good look at His people: “Behold, please look, we are all your people” (9).
Isaiah counts on the Lord’s covenantal commitment and fatherly compassion. He knows that as the Lord looks at the nation’s devastation, He could be moved to “rend the heavens and come down” to save them (1). Afterall, Israel lies decimated: “Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation” (10). The Temple (“our holy and beautiful house”—11), once the center of Israel’s worship, “has been burned by fire” (11). Though at the moment Isaiah writes these words, the Temple still stands in Jerusalem, Isaiah envisions the destruction that will come because of the nation’s sins.
Having poured out his heart and petition, Isaiah finishes with two questions for the Lord: “Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?” (12). Isaiah counts on the Lord’s enduring compassion to move Him to action at the sight of Israel’s dire condition. His question implies an answer—the Lord steadfast love for Israel still offers hope. Isaiah has purposed to “not keep silent” until Jerusalem is restored and renewed (62:1). So he pleads, asking the Lord to break His silence and withdraw His judgment. Having made his impassioned requests, he waits on the Lord of His answer.
In Isaiah’s prayer we find both ardent desire and careful design. The prayer, though passionate, is not free form. Rather, the passion is channeled through a chiastic structure that provides conceptual bookends for Isaiah’s plea. It begins and ends with two questions that appeal to the heart of God (63:15; 64:12). Next comes an appeal to the Lord as Israel’s Father (63:16; 64:8) followed by an acknowledgement that the Lord has withdrawn His help from His people (hardened their hearts—63:17; hidden His face—64:7). Then comes an admission of what Israel has “become”: they have “become like those over whom you never ruled” (63:19) and “become like one who is unclean” (64:6). The centre section, positioned in the middle of the chiastic start and finish, contains the heart of the prayer: an impassioned plea for God to “rend the heavens and come down” to powerfully rescue His people (64:1-5). Like some of the psalms, we find a beautifully blending of heart and head in Isaiah’s prayer. Isaiah’s prayer is spiritual poetry filled with beauty and truth, fire and form, sentiment and structure.
Behold Your God
The Lord can shake the world when He acts on behalf of His people. When the Lord chooses to do so, He can “rend the heavens” and make the “quake” the “mountains”. While He can work powerfully in ways people fail to see or comprehend (Isaiah 53:1-2), He can also intervene in unmistakeably obvious ways to reveal His power and save His people (2-3). He did it at the Exodus and at Mt. Sinai (3); Isaiah knows He can do it again.
The Lord remains the Father of His disobedient, disciplined children. Isaiah’s plea for God’s salvation rests on the relationship Israel has with Him. He is the nation’s “Father” (63:16; 64:8). This covenant relationship remains even when His children are disobedient for “a long time” (5). It endures even when He becomes angry with them and brings judgment on them (5, 9). Here is hope for the wayward and chastened. Because God remains the Father of His children, we can return to Him in repentance and find His father’s heart stirred with “compassion” (15; Psalm 103:13).
The Lord hides from those who persist in sin but meets those who pursue righteousness. The assurance that the Lord remains the Father of His children is not cause for complacency or rebellion. When His children rebel, He hides His face from them and hands them over to their sins (7). We experience His anger more than we perceive His compassion (63:15; 64:5, 9). On the other hand, when we give ourselves to joyfully pursuing righteousness, He meets us in our need (“You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways”—5). Those who want to seek the Lord’s face must seek to walk in His will and ways.
Here Am I
I want to be one who waits and works while remembering the Lord’s ways. Isaiah says the Lord “acts for those who wait for him” (3). This kind of waiting is not passive or inactive for the very next verse says, “You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways” (4). Putting these two verses together, we can say that the Lord acts on behalf of those who pursue His will and ways while anticipating His salvation. We are to actively pursue obedience as we expectantly hope for God’s intervention.
I will base my petitions for the Lord’s intervention on His character, covenant, and compassion. Isaiah acknowledges that Israel does not deserve His gracious salvation. All of them have become polluted by sin (“We have all”—6); none of them (“no one”) calls on His name for help (7). Still, Isaiah appeals for the Lord’s saving intervention. The basis for his request rests on what he knows of the Lord’s character (powerful enough to rend the heavens and make the mountains quake—1,3), His covenant (“O LORD, you are our Father”—8), and His compassion (when He “looks” at the sorry state of His people He will be moved to act—63:15, 64:12). As I “rouse” myself to “take hold” of the Lord (7), I want to make my appeals for the Lord help on these same unchanging realities: God’s character, covenant, and compassion.
Rick and Linda Reed 