So Lord may graciously help me
I would turn your prayerful attention to a verse you will find in Isaiah
64 and verse 1. Isaiah chapter 64 and verse 1. This is the great prayer of the
church in response to seeing the greatness of Christ's power.
We have the church's plea that the Lord would bless them. Isaiah
64 and verse 1. Oh that thou wouldest rend the
heavens that thou wouldest come down that the mountains might
flow down at thy presence. Isaiah 64 and verse 1. This morning we looked at those
first six verses in Isaiah 63. This wonderful, gracious, glorious
vision that Isaiah sees, which is looking at the work of the
Savior would accomplish some 750 years later. But it showed
how this, what was going to be wrought at Calvary would be such
a victory. But remember when this is written.
This is written to encourage those that were going down into
exile. They were going to be in exile and then they were going
to come back from exile and the temple was ruined. You can look
at that what they say at the end of chapter 64. It says, verse 10, it says, thy
holy cities are a wilderness. Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem
a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house
where our fathers praised thee is burned up with fire and all
our pleasant things are laid waste. So the people that Isaiah
was prophesying to were a desperately needed people. They had this
vision of the greatness of God. The fact that he was, who is
this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness
of his strength. I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. We've just been singing of that
beautiful, mighty to save aspect of our God. But as we read on,
then we see a concern, you see. The people of God seem far off. They seem so away from this. And so there is this plea then,
and particularly starting the prayer, starting in verse 15
of this chapter, chapter 63, and then running on into chapter
64 of prayer. and having that great theme that
we've given as a text, O that thou wouldest rend the heavens,
that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow
down at thy presence. So when we see the greatness
of God, and perhaps in your pathways this morning, yes, we've been
able to see something of the greatness of Christ, perhaps
as we've sought to preach it this morning. But the application,
how does that affect me? In my life, on Monday morning,
in the week ahead, in the relationships I have at work, at home, with
my neighbours, how are these things worked out? You see, it comes then, O that
thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down.
The mountains might flow down at thy presence. You see, there
wants to be a communication of this mighty to save. We have
a view of the greatness of Christ, but the church is pleased that
greatness might be applied. That it might be applied to them,
and that it might be a blessing. So first off, if you look in
verse 7 of Isaiah 63, first of all, really it's going over the
past blessings. that the church has known. I
will mention the loving kindness of the Lord and the praises of
the Lord according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us and
the great goodness towards the house of Israel. It remembers
the past mercies and in verse 8 he said surely they are my
people children that will not lie so he was their savior so
the lord is saying these are surely these people are going
to be faithful to me they're going to follow me they're not
going to go over after idols but of course we found out find
out later in verse 10 that they did just that, but they have
rebelled. And so there is what we should
be and then what we actually are. And so often in the Christian
life we see what we should be but then we have to come into
the reality of where we are. We're not all that we should
be. And that's why we need to come and plead. And so here we
see in this account something of how we are to come to God
when we see the greatness of God, his power, his ability to
save. And yet, we are so far off. We
come so far short. Sin is so mixed with all that
we do. How do we come to God? So we have a beautiful verse
in verse nine, 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 bared them and carried them all the days
of old. A very lovely and comforting verse of what the Lord had done
for Israel over the years. But then in verse 10, but they
rebelled. and vexed the Holy Spirit, his
Holy Spirit. Therefore he turned to be their
enemy and he fought against them. What that means is that God chastened
them. God turned and acted as if he
was an enemy. He hadn't really forsaken them.
For a small moment I turned away from him but with everlasting
love will I come and save you. No, it wasn't that really God
had gone against them but he turned to be their enemy. He
chastened them. He caused them to be carried
away captive ultimately by Babylon and so on. But then we have the
confession of sin. And you see, if we're going to
come rightly to God, we've got to confess our sin. We can't
say, well, we're good enough. No, we have to come and see that
we're not good enough. In verse 10 of chapter 65, sorry,
63, sorry, it says, but they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit. There's a confession. There's
a realization that we're not what we should be. And if you
look then in chapter 64 and verses 5 and 6, starting in the middle of verse
5 it says, But behold thou art wrath, for we have sinned. This is Isaiah 64 verse 5. Those is continuance and we shall
be saved, but we are all as an unclean thing. And all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. And we do fade as a leaf and
our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. So the church
is confessing their sin. But here it's really interesting.
In verse 6 we might say all our unrighteousnesses are as filthy
rags. No, it doesn't say that. All
our righteousnesses. I was filthier. That was very
important in my pathway. I knew there were some things
I did that were not good, but there were some things I thought
were really quite good, what I did. They were, if you like,
my righteousnesses in my own thinking. But when the Lord showed
that even those righteousnesses that I thought they were, there
was sin in those too, you see. Where can we go? If the best
you do is short, then what about the worst? Surely you've got
nothing to present then. You've got no case, have you?
If the best things you do have got sin in them, then you can
never make the mark, can you? But we are all, this is not just
one person in Israel, but we are all as an unclean thing.
And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Not our sins,
we know they're bad, but our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. Has the Lord shown you that?
Shown you that there's sin mixed in your most holy things? The
things that you seek to do, that there's something of pride in
it, there's something of self in it? There's something of seeking
our own glory, rather than seeking His? but we are all as an unclean
thing and all our righteousness is as filthy rags and we do fade
as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. You see confession confesses
that we are guilty. Confession is really saying about
our sin what God says about it. You see if we say our sin is
not so bad then we're not agreeing with what God says about it.
But when we say But we are all as an unclean thing. Here is
Isaiah, there's a pattern, there's a pattern of blessing here, a
pattern of prayer here that obtain the blessing. You see, oh, that
thou wouldest rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains
might flow down at thy presence. These are all the impossibilities.
These are the problems. This is the separation between
a holy God and an unholy people. So there's confession of sin,
and then there's the helplessness. You see that in verse 7 of Isaiah
64. 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. because of our iniquities. You
see here, we're not prayerful enough. We're sinful, but we're,
if you like, we're satisfied with a prayerless condition with
all this sin. Well, that's where really our
verse comes in. So that's the background. This
is a people that realize their sinfulness. They've seen a view
of the one who is mighty to save. And yet they feel as if they're
far off. They feel like God has left them. They're in this difficult situation. Jerusalem is a waste. Zion is
a wilderness. All these, the holy things have
been trashed. Well, we come then to the cry for divine
intervention. O that thou wouldest rend the
heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might
flow down at thy presence. So here is the cry of God's people. They see what they are. They
see the holiness of God and they plead. They plead, I will yet
be inquired of by the house of Israel to do these things for
them. They plead that the Lord, because
they've had a view you see in Isaiah 63, the first six verses
of his ability to, to vanquish all these enemies, all the unbelief,
all the pride, all those wrong things he's able to deal with
those enemies. Then the cry of the church is
Lord, do that for me. If free grace, why not for me?
There's a personal desire that we might benefit from those things. And this is the great need to
preach the word. Because you see, we are yet to
seek God. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call upon him while he is near.
You see, we are to call upon God. There is hope in the Gospel,
but we are to seek the Lord. We're not to say, well, if it
will be, it will be. If it won't, we won't. Well,
you see, we are to seek the Lord, to seek him diligently. And we
are to seek, ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find. To be a diligent seeker, oh,
that thou wouldest rend the heavens. This is the cry of the church.
Is it your cry? Oh, a true deep desire, a longing. Oh, that these blessings, this
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be manifest in my life. That it might destroy my enemies.
That there may be a moving and running in the ways of God's
commandments. Oh, that thou wouldest rend the
heavens. we think of God is above us isn't
it and it's if you like the heavens that are between us and God and
the prayer is here oh that thou wouldst rend the heavens break
through the heavens so that God comes down of course this is
ultimately the fulfilment of this prayer is the incarnation
he did rend the heavens he did come down he dwelt with his people
Emmanuel God with us is a fulfillment of this very prayer in Isaiah's
prophecy. Oh, that thou wouldest rend the
heavens, that thou wouldest come down that the mountains might
flow down at thy presence. These mountains of sin, the mountains
of unbelief, the mountains of this prayerlessness that we had
in verse 7 of chapter 64. And there is none that calleth
upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.
And yet, there's a confession of it, there's a concern about
it, you see, there's a beginning of the stirring of the spirit.
Have you got that, a desire to have a desire? You say that's
a low place to get to? A desire to have a desire? A
desire to have a desire to pray? And there is none that calleth
upon thy name and stirreth up himself to take hold of thee.
But then you see there's a cry, the cry of the church, O that
thou would it rend the heavens. You see we have in what we looked
at this morning of this one who traveling in the greatness of
his strength, I that speak in righteousness mighty to save,
this one who has his garments besmeared with the blood of his
enemies, as he conquers his enemies, he conquers the unbelief, the
pride, all these enemies, not the enemies of his people's souls. the Satan and all his hellish
powers, the powers of evil which we looked at this morning, and
having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them. Oh, that thou wouldest
rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that these mountains,
my mountains, might flow down at thy presence. You see, this
is the cry of the church. And it's not in vain, is it?
It's crying to one that is mighty, mighty to save. But you see,
we are to cry. We're not to, I will yet be inquired
of by the house of Israel to do these things for them. And
we're not to be silent. We're not to just carry on and
say, well, in a fatalistic way, no. This is, Isaiah shows that
this is what the people of God do. They feel their poverty. They came back from exile. You
think about it in the time of Israel. The temple had been destroyed. The city had been laid waste.
And all their beautiful and pleasant places had been burnt up. They
were really upset. They were really downcast. What
did they want? They wanted the Lord to appear.
And of course you see, O that thou wouldst rend the heavens,
and come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence.
mountains the separations between us and God and of course in our
natural pathways we think of a mountain is a great object
I mean of course sometimes we choose to go to the mountains
and climb them and you get to the top of them you have lovely
views so in that sense you think of a mountain as being a lovely
thing but if you're trying to get from A to B and it's up a
whole mountain and back down again It's a tremendous barrier,
it's a tremendous divider, it's a tremendous problem, that the
mountains might flow down at thy presence. The idea is that
as the Lord comes, those impossibilities flow away. We have that in verse
2, as when the melting fire burneth, The fire causes the waters to
burn. The first part, the melting fires,
we think of that if you're trying to make steel or something like
that, you melt up the ore very hot. And the metal goes into
a liquid, doesn't it? Runs away and it separates, of
course, the dross from the good that you want. As when the melting
fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil. The fire
has an effect. The water doesn't stay in the
same state as it was when the fire comes along, is it? To make
thy name known to thine adversaries. You see, if the Lord is going
to give us an outpouring of his spirit, if there's going to be
true revival, the prayer of the church is for the glory of God.
And this is, you see, here, we have this in verse 2, to make
thy name known to thine adversaries. so that the enemies may know
that God is working. We think of this on the day of
Pentecost, wasn't it? Oh, that thou wouldest rend the
heavens and come down. He came down in those, symbol
of those, the cloven fire on the heads of the disciples. And
he came down and the mountains flowed down at his presence.
All those, so many of those people at Pentecost had been those that
had been crying, crucify him, crucify him. They had been Against
Christ they had sought to to do away with him. Oh that thou
wouldest rend the heavens Thou wouldest come down The mountains
these very people who shouted out crucify him crucify him that
they would come and believe Believe you see you'd say well surely
those who cried out crucify him crucify him their Christ enemies
well I Father forgive them for they know not what they do. They
were to start preaching at Jerusalem, at the very place where they'd
cried out crucify him, crucify him. That was the place where
they were to begin the proclamation of the gospel. Oh thou wouldest
rend the heavens Thou wouldst come down, that the mountains
might flow down at thy presence. Is this what we desire? Is this
our concern? As we see the sadnesses in Zion,
we see many things that are not as they ought to be. Oh, that
thou wouldst rend the heavens. We see things going sometimes
in a wrong way. We see the church getting weaker
and weaker and less and less in some places, which is very
sad. Oh that thou wouldest rend the
heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that those impossibilities,
that unbelief, that pride, all those things that militate against
God and godliness may flow away. See when it flows away then the
mountain becomes a plain, then it becomes, it isn't a barrier
anymore. Thy love unknown has broken every
barrier down, the mountains, the barriers. to make thy name known to thine
adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence.'
And then he pleads with what he'd done in the past. When thou
didst terrible things, in verse 3 this is of chapter 64, when
thou didst terrible things that we look not forward. Now terrible
there does not mean bad things, they mean very momentous things,
very awe-inspiring things. Like when God came down at Sinai,
when thou didst terrible things that we look not for, thou camest
down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. You see, at
Sinai there was a presence of God, there was that smoke and
that flame, the whole mountain was quaking. But the Lord came
down. and visited his people, yes in
giving the law then, but you see later on there was that giving
of the gospel and his spirit at Pentecost. And verse 4 has these precious
words, for since the beginning of the world men have not heard
nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside
thee what he hath prepared. for him that waiteth for him
and this is Paul takes this verse and and quotes it in the New
Testament how that we have no idea what God has prepared for
his people the blessings that are in Christ oh may this stir
us up to pray this prayer oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens
how it has come down, that there may be an ingathering of precious
souls, that instead of the world and all its vanities being the
entertainment, that there be something much better, that they
may delight themselves in the Lord and that they make Him their
boast. and we see that this is all based
on the covenant in verse 8 you see of this chapter says but
now oh lord thou art our father we are the clay and thou our
potter this language of submission Realising that God is ultimately
in control and we need to humble ourselves. In the New Testament
Peter says, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand
of God that he may exhort you in due season. And there's this
sense of humility here, humbling ourselves before this mighty
God. But now, O Lord, Thou art our
Father. They plead to the covenant mercies
of God, a covenant that had been made, you see, with Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob. But now, O Lord, Thou art our
Father. We are the clay and Thou our
potter. And we are all the work of thy hands. They plead on the
covenant that was there. And they seek that the Lord would
have mercy upon them for his great namesake, not because they
were worthy of it, not because they deserved it. but because
of his mercy. And so as we see, as we've looked
at this morning, the greatness of the Lord, the day of vengeance
is in mine heart, and the year of the redeemed is come. The
church then is to have this great vision, but then to seek that
those blessings come to them. that you see if you know that
there's salvation but you're not part of it that's it won't
ultimately help you personally will it it's lovely to know that
others are saved and that is precious but how is it with you
how is it with me are we right are we ready and you see so the
church is that the church has seen Christ's power in the beginning
of Isaiah 63. The fact that he is able to deal
with his enemies and able to bring salvation. So the cry,
the church looks in and realizes how far short they come. You
see, We have that in the confession
in verse 64 of Isaiah. For since the beginning of the
world men hath not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither
hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee what he hath prepared for
him that waiteth for him. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth
and worketh righteousness. those that remember thee in thy
ways so there's this idea that a people that are walking with
the lord will be blessed by the lord but then in the middle of
verse five there's a there's this change behold thou art wrath
for we have sinned you see Isaiah realizes and the people realize
that God's people are to be a people that walk in his ways and then
he suddenly stops and says, but we're not walking in thy ways.
We need mercy. We need thee to come and have
mercy on us. But we behold thou art wroth,
for we have sinned in those his continuance, and we shall be
saved, but we are all. as an unclean thing, and then
it goes to expound the malady, the troubles, the difficulties
that they're in. And so we come to plead the promises,
plead what God has done, go look back at His mercies in time past. I will mention the loving kindness
of the Lord, to look back what God has done for us, that He's
done these things for us, and though we've come into a difficult
situation, to look at God's faithfulness in the past, to look at His ability
to save, and then to put our trust in Him that He will yet
deliver us. and so it is the cry of the church,
the cry of God's people, O that thou wouldest rend the heavens.
It's been a great cry in times of revival, O that thou wouldest
rend the heavens, not content just with what we have. You see, in one sense it says
godliness with contentment is great gain, but With these things
there needs to be a tenaciousness, a realisation that we are not
content with a distance from God. Like Jacob, I will not let
thee go except thou bless me. Not content to be away, not content
that the Lord is able to bless but having no blessing ourselves,
but to say I must have the blessing. Moses, if thy presence go not
with us, carry us not up hence. You see, they want God's presence.
Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come
down. God with us, wants the presence
of God, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence. As
we have these difficulties, these impossibilities, to recognize
there is this one who is able to which is travelling in the
greatness of his strength and able to deal with our enemies,
able to deal with our sin, able to bring us back to God, able
to stand in our place. And you see there's so much here
of the mercy of God. Oh that thou wouldest rend the
heavens, that thou wouldest come down. Well you see if God came
down out of Christ, almighty power can do nothing but devour. So in this prayer, there's a
recognition that the Lord would come down in mercy, in mercy,
not in judgment. You see, if Israel got what they
deserved, they would be judged. And if we got what we deserved,
we would be judged. But we need to come and plead.
the mercy of God in Christ, plead that there has been a way, God
has made a way whereby wretched, hell-deserving sinners can come
back to God through the Red Sea of his own blood. And though
we perhaps feel our ruin, as we have in the end of chapter
64, Be not wrath very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for
ever. Behold, see, we beseech thee,
we are thy people, pleading, Lord, look upon us in mercy. Don't reward us according to
our sins, but deal with us in mercy. And the end of the chapter
has this, it ends on a question really. Wilt thou refrain thyself
for these things, O Lord? Will thou hold thy peace and
afflict us very sore? There's a pleading ground, you
see, Lord have mercy upon us. And you see, he loves to hear
the cries of his people. He loves to have us coming as
it were in our emptiness. in our far offness and recognizing
that and then coming and seeking for mercy and coming to find
mercy and come to realize that this one who is spoken of at
the beginning of chapter 63 is able to be our savior, able to
bring about that year of redeemed for us and able to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. You see, Israel was a guilty
people. And this is a picture of the
Lord's people. Jacob, a supplanter, and yet
God chose them, chose Jacob, and called him and redeemed him. And so the people of God are
a people who recognise that they come short. You see, the Lord
is, we read in Psalms 34, the Lord is nigh unto them that are
of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. In other words, there is nobody
that is saved without recognizing their poverty. There is nobody
that gets to heaven, as it were, without recognizing that they
need salvation. They only get there by one way.
And of course that's made so clear in Revelation. As they
see those standing, there's that vision given to John in Revelation 7 in verse 13. It says, And one of the elders
answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in
white robes? And whence came they? So these
ones which are in heaven, John sees them in heaven, and they've
got perfectly white robes. And I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest, and he said to me, these are they which came out of great
tribulation. So they weren't in and of themselves
holy people. They were people who had to declare,
all my righteousnesses are as filthy rags. They were people
that had to say, in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. These are they which came out of great tribulation and
have washed their robes and made them white. in the blood of the
Lamb. That's how they're there. It
isn't that, well, you know, there's this section of people that come
short and they need salvation but there's a whole load of other
people that get there by their own righteousness because they're
not sinners. No. The Bible doesn't make that
way at all. It says all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. There is one way back to God. and that is this way of seeking
for mercy. These are they which came out
of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb. This one, this one who is mighty
to save, who is dealing with their enemies, the sin, the rebellion,
all the sin which just so easily beset them, putting down their
enemies, besmearing himself with their blood. Yet, you see, they
need to have their sins paid for too. And so while he's traveling
in the greatness of his strength in the beginning of chapter 63,
we also have Isaiah 53 that talks about his being hit the substitute,
being bruised for them. be in that Lamb of God, who takes
away the sin of the world. Therefore are they before the
throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.
And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall
sunlight on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them. and to living fountains of water,
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. All tears, all
the sorrows of this world, they're going to be wiped away ultimately
for his people. Oh that thou wouldst rend the
heavens. We think of it as a church meeting
here and people O that thou wouldst rend the heavens! O that there
may be those who has yet seen no beauty in Christ may have
their hearts opened as it was on the day of Pentecost three
thousand souls on that one day had their eyes opened to behold
a precious Jesus and to lay hold upon the hope set before them
in the gospel. Three thousand souls, O that thou wouldst rend
the heavens! There may be many in our day,
that there may be a generation following on to know the Lord.
Those that have experienced these things, but they need the power,
they need the Lord to come down, His presence to be felt, His
power to be felt, to break down all those barriers and all the
impossibilities. And the prayer of the church,
O that thou wouldest rend the heavens. It's looking to God,
you see. It's not saying, well, I think
if we do this and that, we'll be all right. No, we need the
Lord. Oh, that thou willest rend the
heavens. Come down, get rid of all the
separations that there is. And you see, this is God in his
mercy we're coming. If he got rid of all the separations
and he came in his wrath, then we would be consumed. But here,
there's a sense of the mercy of God in Christ. Oh, that thou
wouldest rend the heavens, thou wouldest come down the mountains. What mountains are before you?
What are the things that are stopping you running in the ways
of God's commandments? What are the excuses? What are
the reasons that you're saying, well, I cannot move because of
this and because of that? Oh, that thou wouldest rend the
heavens, that thou wouldest come down mountains all those things
that are barriers between us running in the ways of God's
commandment and this is not just making this it includes of course
making an open profession of our faith following the Lord
in believers baptism but it's not just that because you see
once you've followed the Lord in believers baptism you are
to go on day by day following on it's not the end it's the
beginning To follow Him is a lifelong work of following the Lord and
doing His bidding. And so what are the barriers
that are stopping you following the Lord as He would want you
to follow Him? Oh, that thou wouldest rend the
heavens, thou wouldest come down the mountains, that we might
be a people that glorify Him. this is the great end as when
the melting fire burneth he causes the waters to boil to make thy
name known to thine adversaries you see there's something for
the glory of God here that God is glorified when the enemies
see that that God has been with us then that gives glory to his
name to make thy name known to thine adversaries that the nations
may tremble at thy presence oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens
that thou wouldest come down the mountains might flow down
at thy presence amen