Wrath, Love and Prayer
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Isaiah
57. An expository study of
Isaiah, chapter 63 and 64
Chapter 63
Isaiah envisions a last-day
drama unfolding: “Who is this who comes
from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his
apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? ‘It is I, speaking in
righteousness, mighty to save’” (v.1). It is obviously the Messiah, coming
from defeating His and Israel’s enemies. Edom, the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s
twin brother, are the perennial enemies of Israel. Isaiah’s prophecy took a
similar turn in chapter 34 and both accounts point to the final battle against
the nations of the world, typified by Edom. Bozrah was an important city, for a
time belonging to Moab, but in Isaiah’s time, it was a city of Edom.
In chapter 34:16, we see
instructions to “seek and read from the
book of the Lord”, showing the need to see the interpretation of the symbolic
nature of the prophecy. In this chapter, we see the Messiah is a champion,
returning from war, His garments stained with the blood of His defeated foes.
Their defeat is vengeance taken for the suffering of His people and it becomes
their salvation.
Another question follows: “Why is your apparel red, and your garments
like his who treads in the winepress?” (v.2). Towards the end of the book
of Revelation, John sees Christ on a white horse with His armies following Him.
“In righteousness he judges and makes
war,” John states. This is the
Word of God, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who “is clothed in a robe dipped in blood… He will tread the winepress of
the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Rev.19:11,13,15). We have it
clear, then, when this battle takes place. It marks the end of the beast and
the false prophet, just before the Millennium.
Isaiah quotes Him: “I have trodden the winepress alone… I trod
them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my
garments, and stained all my apparel” (v.3). His followers are in white,
because He alone brings the victory. He alone takes vengeance and He alone
redeems (v.4). “So my own arm brought me
salvation, and my wrath upheld me” (v.5). Throughout all history and on to
the end of time, there is only One to look to for help and salvation. He says
that His wrath upheld him; His wrath is essential in carrying out righteousness
and salvation. A divine indifference or apathy would be disastrous for His
kingdom and for all its inhabitants.
“I trampled down
the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their
lifeblood on the earth” (v.6). The enemies of God and His people staggered
from Christ’s blows and He worked to bring them to their end, as well as bringing
final judgment upon the earth. We have already noticed the fact, but in this
next section Isaiah amplifies that, His wrath and vengeance upon His foes, work
for His love and salvation upon His people.
“I will recount
the steadfast love of the Lord.” His love never wavers and never diminishes. All
the blessing that they have received… great
goodness, the text states… has been “granted
them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast
love (v.7), and for no other reason. Any lesser reason would throw the
people into a state of insecurity and doubt, because of their own
imperfections.
I think, the importance of
these next statements demand a direct quote. “For he said, ‘Surely they are my people, children who will not deal
falsely.’ And he became their Savior. 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” (v.8,9). If He said, surely
they are My people, then they and we can know surely, that we belong to Him. (As to “children who will not deal
falsely”, see Ps.44:17 and 1 Jn.5:18.)
The Angel of His
presence is an Old
Testament term for Jesus Christ and He has become our Savior. He took our sins
and He stands today as “a faithful high
priest… to make propitiation for the sins of the people… sympathize with our
weaknesses… Consequently, he is able also to save to the uttermost those who
draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for
them” (Heb.2:17, 4:15, 7:25). He takes our afflictions or weaknesses as His
own.
Moses pleaded with God, when the
Lord threatened to cut the people off and begin afresh. Moses referred to the Egyptians
and how they would interpret the Israelites’ destruction, concluding that they
would see Israel’s God as unfaithful to them. Whenever “they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit”, He became Israel’s
enemy and fought against them. Then, He remembered “the days of old, of Moses and his people.” Amazingly, the prayer
of Moses continued in the Lord’s heart until the time of captivity and will
continue through the end times!
The divine, spiritual
principle remains to this day: “He who
began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ”
(Php.1:6). He remembered bringing them through the Red Sea and of the work
of the Holy Spirit among them throughout. His work towards them was an
everlasting, eternal work to “make for
himself an everlasting name” (v.10-12).
“Like a horse in
the desert, they did not stumble. Like livestock that go down into the valley,
the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself
a glorious name” (v.13-14). He led them out of Egypt and through the
desert; His Spirit worked in them to bring them in and gave them permanent
dwelling in the Promised Land. All this, was not primarily for them, but was
done to give God His rightful glory.
Isaiah concludes this chapter
with prayer to His Father in heaven… in “His
holy and beautiful habitation.” He calls upon Him to show His zeal and
might, as He did in former times. This is a revival prayer and concerned Christians
have prayed like this, when the Spirit of God awoke them to their desperate
situation and moved them to call upon God for “the stirring of your inward parts and your compassion”. (v.15).
Their relationship with the
Heavenly Father exceeds that of their patriarchs, Abraham and Israel. They are
more than simply the children of Israel. Abraham may deny his heritage, but “You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer
from of old is your name” (v.16). They are children of God! Isaiah relied
upon the Lord to keep His people; it must be “God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Php.2:13).
There is no fear of God in fallen nature and there is no going in His
direction. If they are to walk with Him, He must lead and inspire them (v.17). His
holy people are those who are made holy and kept holy through the work of His
Holy Spirit.
Their enemies have come in and
trampled His sanctuary… the place, where everything is fashioned and done
according to His pleasure (v.18). Circumstances would indicate that the Lord has
not called them and that He is not in charge (v.19). I beg you, my friend, to
look at our circumstances and see the similarity. Does Christ rule; is He the
Head of the church? Do we dare to call ourselves Christians, when we fall so
short of living up to that name? Let us be the people, who begin to pray Isaiah’s
prayer (it continues in the next chapter), and to do it desperately.
Isaiah 64
“Oh that you
would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your
presence!” (v.1). The church is a heavenly institution. Whenever man takes over and it
functions according to human power, we are less than God intended for us to be.
It is time to pray this prayer that we might see days of heaven on earth. Away
with the statis quo! Will you excuse
or defend it? The saints throughout
the church age, who prayed this prayer, put us to shame. Why do I say this?
Because our situation in this 21st Century is worse than in their
days, but apparently we are not able to see it. We ought to be praying like
they did, desperately and with tears, but we are indifferent and cold. Never
mind the sin, false doctrines, mentality and modes that prevail among us.
Please Lord, deliver us from the appearance of godliness that lacks the glorious
might of God, the Holy Spirit!
We have former times as
testimony to the fact that He can do it again and we even have a few examples alive
today of the moving of God that He has brought about through the prayers of His
people: “When you did awesome things
that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. Notice, Isaiah is calling for
an encore of exactly that, which he knows that the Lord has done in the past.
"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” (v.3,4). Paul makes it clear that no
one by mere human understanding, even the most studied and intellectual
experts, can perceive the things of God. He must receive divine illumination from
the Holy Spirit to hear and see them: “As
it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man
imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’… these things God has
revealed to us through the Spirit” (1 Co.2:9). Therefore, a remnant, a
small minority among the earth’s population, must be the praying people, who
storm the gates of heaven.
A song claims It Is No
Secret What God Can Do, yet the things of God remain a mystery to the
majority. The mightiest works that the world has ever seen are the works of
God. God cannot and will not deny the sincere and hungry heart… Those who love Him, Paul said, are
those, for whom God has prepared heavenly acts: “You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. They know the
difference between His ways and man’s ways. They confess and repent, not only
of their sin, but the sin of their land. “Behold,
you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall
we be saved? We have all become like
one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (v.5,6a)
“We all fade
like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away” (6b). Our
spiritual life lost its luster, its zeal and its love, and our sins blew us
away. They determined the direction and the speed that we have traveled. Is there
anyone who recognizes the lack of the reality of God and is willing to confess
the number of those who have fallen among us? If anyone can truly see it, he
will be a person “who calls upon your
name, who rouses himself to take hold of you” (v.7). Isaiah said, “There is no one.”
“For you have
hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities. But
now”… with all this
said and admitted, there can still be a but
now. Thank the Lord! Read carefully and prayerfully: “O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand” (v.8). This is deeper truth than all our
failures and it brings us hope. He is the potter: He can shape us in the form
that He wills. He is our Father; He will discipline us and love us, until we
become what He wants us to be.
Isaiah begs that the Lord’s
anger be placated… we would call upon Him to, please, view the cross and the
people, who have all hope placed in the work done there by His Son... “Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and
remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people” (v.9)
Isaiah calls upon God to view now the devastation, as Hezekiah called upon Him
to look at the enemy’s letter, spreading it before the Lord: “Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful
house, where our fathers praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our
pleasant places have become ruins” (v.10,11)
Assured that the Lord has
taken in the entire situation, Isaiah ends his prayer with two questions: “Will you restrain yourself at these
things, O Lord? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?” (v.12).
Perhaps you noticed that I have quoted the entire chapter 64, word for word. I
think that I have left nothing out, because I wanted to be sure that you would
contemplate with me the inspired word of the Holy Spirit in this powerful
chapter. I am sure that the Lord heard Isaiah’s prayer and what has happened in
Israel in our time, is partly a result of that prayer. He is restoring Israel
and He will also respond to our prayer. People, who understand that we can do nothing without Christ and are
absolutely dependent on His leadership and power, will pray. People, who
understand their own weakness and inability, will make prayer the number one
priority.
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