Let us turn to God's Word and
turning to the portion of Scripture we were reading in the prophecy
of Isaiah. I want to direct you to words
that we find here in chapter 64 and verse 8. Isaiah 64 8 But now, O LORD,
Thou art our Father, we are the clay, and Thou our potter, and
we all are the work of thy hand in Isaiah 64 8 but now O LORD
thou art our father we are the clay and thou our potter and
we are all are the work of thy hand this 64th chapter of course is
really a prayer in fact the prayer begins back in chapter 63 there
at verse 15 of that chapter we have the opening words of what
is Isaiah's prayer for the nation look down from heaven and behold
from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory where is thy
zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bells and of thy mercies
toward me are they restrained and so he begins to pray and
he continues that prayer right down to the end of chapter 64
so the text that we've read here in verse 8 of chapter 64 it's
part of the prayer he addresses the Lord God and he addresses
him as father the Lord Jesus of course instructs his disciples
when they pray to say our father and so here but now oh Lord thou
art our father these are the words that I want to endeavor
to consider for a while with you this morning looking at the
at the context we see that there is a connection with what has
been said previously because the text opens with the words
but but now there's a connection, there's a contrast with what's
been said in the previous verses and you will observe out there
in verses 6 and 7 there is a confession a confession of their sin, of
their unworthiness verse 6 we're all as an unclean thing all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags And we all do fade as a
leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.
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. But now, O
Lord, thou art our Father." All the connection here. We are reminded,
aren't we, of the awful consequence of sin, how he speaks of it there
in verse 6 speaks of being like a leaf that fades away as sin saps away all life, where
still it makes a person altogether unclean in the sight of God,
filthy In fact, it take us away. That's what we're told. The wind,
iniquities like the wind have taken us away. They had been
taken away or they would be taken away. They were going to be judged
and punished and they would go into captivity, into exile. And we see that at the end of
the chapter. thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation, our holy and our beautiful house where
our father's praise is burned up with fire, and all our pleasant
things are laid waste." Now, interestingly, he speaks of these
events as if they've already taken place. It's the prophetic
perfect. He's prophesying what would come
to pass, and it wouldn't come to pass for about a hundred years.
But God was going to judge them. because of their sins, and there
would be a taking away. They would go into captivity. The consequence of sin, the certainty
of it, as the Prophet speaks in this fashion to them. We have
that remarkable verse in the New Testament, in James chapter
1 and verse 15, concerning lust and sin. then last when it hath
conceived bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth
forth death. We have the history of sin from
its conception to its bitter end. In just a few words there
in that text in James how sin is conceived so quickly and how
quickly it brings that awful consequence it brings death in
fact it's interesting isn't it what he goes on to say in verse
7 how that sin leads to to prayerlessness where there is sin there's no
calling upon God 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
we read in verse 7 it's a strange confession it is a strange confession
in a sense there's a certain paradox in it because what is
being said is part of a prayer the prophet is praying and yet
he is confessing prayerlessness he is confessing prayerlessness
in the course of his many petitions to God strange paradox really
he is praying and yet he is aware that like all around him he is
a man prayerless in so many ways he is not a man who sets himself
as being superior to any of those to whom he is ministering the
word of God How is such prayer-resistant
learned? Well, it's interesting, the marginal
reading there in that 7th verse, Thou wast hid thy face from us
and hast consumed us, it says, but you might observe in the
margin we're told that the word consumed literally means melted. Thou wast hid thy face from us
and hast melted us. because of our iniquities. And when we think of the actual
words that's given in its basic meaning there in the margin,
it reminds us of the purpose of God in all his dealings with
the people. When he takes them into exile,
it is a chastening. He's putting them, as it were,
in the furnace. He is going to purge them of
all their sins that there might be a purifying and a preservation
because God will yet preserve a remnant in the lands. Isn't that the great purpose
of Isaiah's whole ministry really? He's told that even at the beginning
when he's first called to be the Lord's servant. to bear God's
words to the people remember the content that we have there
the account in the sixth chapter of the prophecy at the end of
that sixth chapter when he asks that question Lord how long?
and the answer comes until the cities be wasted without inhabitants
and the houses without man and the land be utterly desolate
the same as we have here at the end of chapter 64 And the Lord hath removed men
far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the
land. But yet, in it shall be a tent,
and it shall return. The time. God will preserve a
people. There will be a process whereby
he will put them in the furnace of affliction. There will be
a mounting. It will seem that they are being utterly consumed
because of their iniquities. but God will ever preserve his
people this is something of the of the context here but it's
interesting isn't it because if we go back to verse 4 that
verse is actually taken up in the New Testament by the Apostle
if you turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2 you'll see how writing
there to the church which was principally a gentile church
at Corinth what does Paul say in chapter 2 and verse 9 he quotes quotes those words from from verse 4 here in the chapter
that we are considering And then what does Paul go on
to say? Well, look at that passage there in 1 Corinthians 2 verse
9 following, As it is written, I hath not seen, nor heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, sayeth the Spirit of man which is in him.
even so the things of God knoweth no man but the spirits of God
and then he goes on at verse 14 the natural man receiveth
not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness
unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned and really it's As Paul takes up the fourth verse
there in writing to the church at Corinth that we have the coup
whereby we can rightly interpret and understand what's being said
back in the prophecy of Isaiah. Yes, in the immediate context
he is speaking of Israel and how God is going to deal with
ethnic Israel at the time of the captivity. But there is a
spiritual application. Because ultimately the word is
to be understood in that spiritual sense. The word is something
that belongs to God's true spiritual Israel. And God's true spiritual
Israel, as we learn in the New Testament, is more as an ethnic
Israel. They're not all Israel that are
of Israel. God's true spiritual Israel is
the church. these prophecies in the Old Testament,
they belong to us. And we're to interpret them in
the light of ourselves and our own experiences. And so as we
come to consider the text that I announced, verse 8, I want
to observe three things this morning. But Thou art Lord, Thou
art our Father, we are the clay, Thou our putter, and we are all
the work of Thy hand." Three things to say something with
regards to God's creation, and then God's covenants, and then
God's chastening of His people. First of all, God's creation. And surely the verse is very
much speaking of a work of creation. We are the clithe and thou our
potter. Thou, O Lord, thou art our father. Now, we're not to think here
in terms of natural creation. We know that God is the one who
is the creator of all things. By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made. or the host of them by the breath of His
mouth. The language of the Psalm is
there in Psalm 33. Again in the 100th Psalm. It
is He that has made us and not we ourselves. We are all the works of His hand. God is the One of course who
is the Creator. But when we read here of this
God who is the creator, the potter as it were, is also spoken of
as the father. And there are some who do like
to speak in terms of the universal fatherhood of God. You can think
of that hymn by the Quaker J.C. Whittier, Dear Lord and Father
of Mankind, Forgive our foolish ways, as if God is the father
of all men. But that is not really true. The unbeliever is in a state
of alienation. The world lies in wickedness. Men are in that state of enmity,
enemies of God. Having the understanding darkens.
They are alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them. Because of the blindness, the hardness, of their
hearts and remember how Paul writes to the Ephesians a gentile
church he reminds them what they were at that time he says without
Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel strangers
from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God
in the world the carnal mind, the natural
mind in man is in that state of enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, says Paul, neither indeed can be. It's wrong to conclude
then that there is a general universal fatherhood in God. It's contrary to what the scripture
is teaching us. And even to Israel the Lord Jesus
says in his day, ye are of your father the devil. As I said,
the true people of God is a spiritual people. It's spiritual Israel.
He's not a Jew which is one outward in either circumcision that which
is outward in the flesh. but he is a Jew which is one
inwardly and circumcision we know is that of the heart in
the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not of men but
of God this is what we are told in scripture and the prophets
as they ministered they would remind the people time and again
that God's ways amongst his people are dividing. Think of the language
that we have in Jeremiah 15, if thou take forth the precious
from the vial, God says, ye shall be as my mouth. There is to be that rightly dividing,
rightly dividing the word of God, and where there is that
right dividing of the word of God, it will cause division,
separation. And we see it so very much in
the Prince of all the preachers, the fulfillment of the prophetic
office, the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ time and again.
There's division. As we're told three times in
John's Gospel, there's division because of him. There's division
because of his teaching. And as was true with regards
to the Lord Jesus Christ, so it must be with regards to all
that faithful ministry of the Word of God. And the language
that we have there in the second chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul
says, We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that
are saved, and in them that perish. To the one we are the savour
of death unto death, to the other the savour of life unto life.
Do we sufficient for these things? For we are not as many which
corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God. In the sight of God speak we
in Christ." Speaking in Christ, His ministry will be surely the
same as that of the Lord Jesus. There will be separation, the
savour of death to some, but the savour of life to others how solemn it is this notion
you see that there is a general universal fatherhood in God it's
not true because God's word is a discriminating word and a separating
word and so when we think here of those who are the people of
God those of whom God speaks of himself as their father it
is really God's true Israeli spiritual people and time and
again of course this is how they are spoken of here in the chapter
in verse 8 thou art our father We are the cloud, and thou our
potter, and we all are the work of thy hands. And then again
at the end of verse 9, we are all thy people. And we have it even in the previous
chapter, we were reading from chapter 63, there from verse
7 following through to the end of this 64th chapter. in the
language that we have there in verse 8 of that 63rd chapter. He said surely they are my people,
children that will not lie. So he was their savior. His people
are those who are his saved people. We're not to embrace this notion
of the universal love of God, the universal fatherhood of God.
it doesn't stand up to being examined in the light of what
we read here in the Word of God. For He is that One who is the
Lord, He is the Holy One, and He has a people which He has
formed for Himself. He says, as much surely these
people have I formed for Myself, they shall show forth My praise. This is the business of those
who are His people. And they're a new creation. They're a new creation. Isn't
that what we're told there in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17? If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature, a new creation. All things are passed away, all
things are become new. And of course when we're reading
the Old Testament, We ought to bear continually in mind that
God is speaking of Israel as atypical people. Ethnic Israel is really a type
of the true spiritual people of God. That's the church. That's
the church. And how God will deal with his
people, this figure of the potter and the clay. It's not only here
in Isaiah, we see it also in the Prophet Jeremiah. The language that he uses here
in Jeremiah 18 and verse 6, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you
as this potter? Saith the Lord, Behold, as the
clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house
of Israel. And as I'm sure you're only too
well aware, of course, the whole idea is taken up by Paul in the
New Testament, in the ninth chapter of his epistle to the Romans.
And the words that we have there, solemn words really. Romans 9.21, hath not the potter
power over the clay? of the same lump to make one
vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour? What if God,
willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured
with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,
and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the
vessels of mercy which He had aforeprepared unto glory, even
us whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also the Gentiles. And here, of course, he's speaking
of God in His sovereignty making choice of the people whom He
has predestinated to salvation. They are vessels of mercy which He had before prepared
unto glory, but then there are others that God has passed over.
It's double predestination, isn't it? and those that he has passed
over their vessels of wrath and he has foreordained them to condemnation
because of their sin. Solemn words but see how the
scriptures speak so clearly of the sovereignty of God with regards
to his work as the potter and he does as he will with that
that is his own he is answerable to no one he will deal with his
people and he'll deal with them in order
to their eternal well-being but he is the potter he is the potter
who has power over the clay we see then here that we're to think not in terms of God's
initial work of creation, great work that that is, the maker
of all things in heaven and in earth, but we're to think in
terms of what God is doing with his people. In the Old Testament
it's ethnic Israel, but they're a typical people. And so in the
second place, we observe that God's covenant is here. And we
see that in that the name that is used is the covenant name. But now, Oh Lord, that's Jehovah. It's that name that's derived
from what the Lord God said to Moses at the burning bush, I
am that I am. Oh he's the unchanging one, he's
the God of the covenant. who is faithful to His promises,
who will fulfill all His gracious purposes. Lord, as we have it
here then in capital letters, His people are those who are
in covenant with Him, and they're in covenant with Him, of course,
through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that One who is the only
Mediator. of the Covenant, and we have
it. We have it previously in the 49th chapter, and the language
that we find there in verse 6 following, Thus saith the Lord, observe
again the Covenant name, Thus saith the Lord, in an acceptable
time have I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped
thee, and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant
of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the
desolate heritage. And the whole context of what's
being said there in that 8th verse where Christ is spoken
of as a covenant for the people. It says previously at verse 6
it is a like thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise
up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel,
I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that they mayest
be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus saith the
Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to Him whom
man despiseth, to Him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of
rulers. Kings shall see the rise, princes
also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and
the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose them. Thus saith
the Lord in an acceptable time, have I heard them. And in a day
of salvation have I helped them, and I will preserve them and
give them for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth,
the cause to inherit the desolate heritage." wonderful verses,
but they're promises that center in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is that One who is the mediator of the
New Covenant. They're His people. They're His
people. And what do His people do? They
plead His works. Not their own works. They plead
His works. We are all the work of thy hands. That's the great thing, they
are God's work. Again another prophet Isaiah,
what does he say? O Israel thou hast destroyed
thyself, but in me is thine help. God's people are those who have
destroyed themselves. Destroyed themselves by their
sins. They sinned in Adam, they sinned in their own person. their
only help is in the Lord their God and so they have to plead
all that he is and all that great work that he has and will yet
accomplish the words that we have there at the beginning of
chapter 43 now thus saith the Lord that created them O Jacob
and he that formed thee O Israel fear not For I have redeemed
them, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine." God has
created them, God has formed them, He has redeemed them, He
has called them. This is where they place all
their trust and all their confidence in God and in that sovereignty
of His grace. And how wonderful it is to behold
how the children of Israel are such a remarkable type of that
spiritual people when we go back to the language of the Deuteronomy
chapter 7 and you know the passage there this is the last book of Moses,
the five books of Moses what does Moses say here in Deuteronomy
7.6 Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God the Lord thy
God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all
people that are upon the face of the earth the Lord did not
set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in
number than any people for you were the fewest of all people
but because the Lord loved you because the Lord loved you for
whom he did for now we also need predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son because he loved you and because he would
keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers that the Lord
brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of
the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt
they are a typical people they are God's ancient covenant
people But now of course we have all that fullness of the day
of grace in the new covenant. How Israel is preserved throughout
the Old Testament. Why? Because Christ must come
of that seed in order to be the saviour of a multitude of sinners. They're God's covenant people
then. and God deals with them, and
He deals with them, and we see it again in the Old Testament. Think of the language that we
have in a chapter, that long chapter like Deuteronomy 28,
the chapter of first blessings, the first 14 verses speak of
great blessings, but then also from verse 15 right through to
the end, verse 68, we have curses. blessings where there is obedience
and curses where there is disobedience a very solemn chapter really
Deuteronomy 28 a long chapter but it's only 14 verses that
speak of those blessings that will come if they're obedient
and then so many more verses from verse 15 right through to
68 the dreadful curses that will come upon them or they were such
a sinful people but even there in Deuteronomy there is ultimately
the promise that God will yet restore that people who were
so often a disobedient people the mercies of God you see set
forth in the time the beginning of the 30th chapter God says,
He shall come to pass when all these things are come upon them,
the blessing and the curse which I have set before them, and they
shall call them to mind among all the nations whither the Lord
thy God hath driven them, and shall return unto the Lord thy
God and shall obey His voice according to all that I command
thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart and with
all thy soul, that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity
and have compassion upon them, and will return and gather thee
from all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered
thee. Now God's people are to plead
those things that He has said to them those things that are
written here in His Word now we have to come and plead His
promises and we see it here in the verse that follows our text
What is this prayer? Be not wrath very sore, O LORD,
neither remember iniquity for ever. Behold, see, we beseech
thee, we are all thy people. What are they doing here? Are
they not beginning to plead God's word, His promise? I am the LORD,
I am Jehovah, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob. are not concerned
or how we have that blessed name to continually plead Jehovah
the God of the covenant we can plead in terms of Jehovah Jesus
the mediator of that covenant who has come and sealed it all
with that precious blood or the covenant, the testament is enforced
because Him who is the mediator and the testator has given Himself,
has died. And we're to plead these things.
Be not wrath, very sword, O Lord. What a prayer it is, remember
iniquity. Neither remember iniquity forever. Behold, see, we beseech thee,
we are all thy people. And so we see God's creation,
the true Israel is God's creation, the people he has formed for
himself that show forth his praise, he is their covenant God, and
he is the one who as a father will indeed chasten them and
correct them. O Lord, Thou art our Father.
That a father, a faithful father will chasten his child. All of
this is part of the prayer. What do they do here? Two things,
they acknowledge their just deserts really. But they also ask for
God's deliverance. it's interesting the language
that they use be not wrath very sore wrath here the idea of God's
anger but not very sore, not to the uttermost not to excess not very sore it has the idea
of not too greatly, not too severely They recognize the need of God
correcting them, God chastising them, but not to excess. We know, we're told, aren't we,
in the psalm, like as the father pitieth his children, so the
Lord pitieth them that fear him. He knoweth our frame, He remembers
that we're dust, even when He comes to correct His people.
He has created them, He has formed them, He knows what they can
bear, they will never be permitted to be tempted, tried above what
they are able to bear, with the trial will come a way of escape.
So they recognize, you see, the need for the correcting rod. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son who may receive him. If ye endure chastening,
Paul says, God dealeth with you as with sons. What son is he? Whom the Father chasteneth not.
For chastening is the mark of sonship. No chastening for the
present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless afterward. It yieldeth the peaceable fruit
of righteousness to them who exercise thereby. Are we those who, as the Lord
deals with us, and He will, if we're His, He'll chasten us,
He'll correct us. Are we exercised by these things? Certainly these people are, they
know that God is their father. They know they're the clay, He's
the potter, they're the work of His hands, but He's dealing
with them. Be not wrath, very sorrow, Lord. Neither remember iniquity forever. Behold, see, we beseech Thee,
we are all Thy people. What do they do then? They ask
for God's deliverance ultimately. Behold! See! There's a certain emphasis there.
And they want God to really look upon them. And of course, we're to see it in the context
of that great deliverance that God did grant in the days of
Moses. Remember there back in Exodus
at the end of chapter 2. And we came to pass in process
of time that the king of Egypt died and the children of Israel
sighed by reason of the bondage and they cried and their cry
came up unto God by reason of the bondage and God heard their
groaning. And God remembered his covenants. with Abraham, with Isaac and
with Jacob, and God looked upon the children of Israel. Behold,
sir, oh God looks upon his children and God had respect unto them.
Or as the Margin says, the Hebrew literally is God knew them. He
knows his people. And he knows them in the midst
of all those trials and all those troubles that they may ever experience. What are they to do? They are
to pray. And this is what we have here, as I said, the whole
chapter really is a prayer. And thou does the chapter begin,
O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come
down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as
when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to
boil, to make thy name known. to thine adversaries, that the
nations may tremble at thy presence. Or that it might yet be seen
that God is known, that God is in the midst of Israel. Though
we be but a despised few, that God is our God, that He is in
our midst, that He is working out His purpose, even in our
poor lives. And in all He does, His eye is
ever upon His people. The Lord Jesus is head over all
things to the church. He said over all things to the
Church. It's all to them who are the
called according to His purpose. Oh, God then be pleased to hear
our prayers as we bow before His sovereignty and acknowledge
Him and address Him as our Father. But now, O Lord, Thou art our
Father, we are the Clyde, and Thou our Potter, and where all
are the work of Thy hand. May the Lord bless His word to
us. We're going to conclude our worship
this morning as we sing the hymn 75. The long hymn will omit verses
4 and 5. So we sing the first three verses
and the last three verses, we're still singing six verses. Hymn
number 75, the tune is Whitburn 435. Behold the potter and the
clay, he forms his vessels as he please, such is our God and
such are we, the subjects of his high decrees. Hymn 75 omitting
verses four and five to the tune 435.