Let us turn to the Word of God
and we turn to the 64th chapter in the prophecy of Isaiah Isaiah
chapter 64 and I'll read the first three verses Oh 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 when thou didst terrible things which we look
not for thou camest down the mountains flow down at thy presence
and most particularly the opening verse of the chapter Isaiah 64
and verse 1, or that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest
come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence. Last time, a week ago, we were
considering verses that we find in the previous chapter. There
in chapter 63 at verses 15 and 16, 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 bowels and of thy mercies
toward me are they restrained. Doubtless thou art our Father,
though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us
not. Thou, O Lord, art our Father,
our Redeemer. Thy name is from everlasting. and we thought then of how this
portion, these two verses, describe to us something of the outcast
of Israel and in particular the prayer of those who feel themselves
to be the outcasts. I remarked how that what we have
there from verse 15 right through to the end of chapter 64 is a
prayer This whole passage is in the
form of a prayer. Previously, in chapter 63, we
see how God is being spoken of. Remember the historical context,
100 years before the Babylonian exile, and how God is going to
judge the people because of their sins, because of their gross
idolatrous ways. God's judgment would come. But
Isaiah doesn't only speak of their sin and the result of that
sin, how that as they rebelled, so God himself would come and
turn against them. There in verse 10 of chapter
63, they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit, therefore he was
turned to be their enemy and he fought against them. But then we see at verse 11 following
in chapter 63 that there is a remembrance of how God had dealt previously
with their fathers in the days of Moses. He remembered the days
of old Moses and his people saying, Where is he that brought them
up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he that
put his Holy Spirit within him? that led them by the right hand
of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the sea before them
to make himself an everlasting name, that led them through the
deep as a horse in the wilderness that they should not stumble.
God brought them out of Egypt through the Red Sea, led them
40 years through the wilderness, brought them to the River Jordan
made a way through the river so that they were able to enter
into that land of promise and as God had mercy and delivered
their fathers in times past so God would make a way for their
deliverance out of the Babylonian captivity. They wouldn't be left
forever to languish there in exile. God would yet have mercy
upon them. What are they doing then here?
There's that reminder of God and the ways of God. They speak
of how God had come and appeared and acted on behalf of their
fathers. But as I said last time, it's
interesting to observe the change that occurs in verse 14 of chapter
63. It moves from the third person
to the second person. They're speaking of God at one
moment, and then the next moment they begin to speak to God. Look at verse 14. In chapter
63, As a beast goeth down into the valley, the spirits of God
caused him to rest. So didst thou lead thy people
to make thyself a glorious name, having spoken of God they now
begin to speak to God so didst thou lead thy people and then
those words of the prayer that we were considering last time
in verses 15 and 16 look look down from heaven and behold from
the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory And so they
begin to plead with God, and they begin to plead something
of the character of God, the sort of God that He is, the great
God, and the gracious God. And so, what we've read as our
text this morning is a continuation of this prayer. They're still
addressing themselves to God. Whereas there, at verse 15, they
say, look down, now in verse 1 of chapter 64 they say all
that thou wouldest render heavens and thou wouldest calm down it's
the same God but remember what we see in the course of their
prayer how that they are brought to lament they lament the fact
that God's in judging them at the time of the Babylonian exile. It was some hundred years in
the future and yet Isaiah as a prophet speaks of these things
as if they had actually occurred already. It's the prophetic perfect,
the truth. It's the certainty of that judgment.
But all what God did, how they lament. He gave them up. He gave
them over to the hands of their enemies. In verse 18, the end
of chapter 63, the people of thy holiness have possessed it,
but a little while adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. We are thine, thou never sparest
rule over them. They were not called by thy name.
Oh, those armies of the Babylonians would come and they would tread
down the temple of the Lord. They destroyed the temple, they'd
raised Jerusalem to the ground. And God would give them up there
into the hands of those who were their enemies. But not only that,
they lament the fact that God will give them up even to themselves
and to their own spirits. In verse 17, O Lord, why hast
thou made us to err from thy ways and hardened our hearts
from thy fear, return for thy servant's sake the tribes of
thine inheritance." It is a fearful thing when God gives a people
over to themselves and to their own spirits. Remember the language
of the prophet Hosea when he says here in chapter 4 and verse
17, Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. let him alone,
leave him in that sad condition, give him over to himself and
his own rebellious spirit. It is, I say, an awful thing
when God just gives over and leaves a person to themselves. Again, the language that we have
in the New Testament Paul writing in Romans and there in Romans
chapter 1 at verse 28 It says, even as they did not
like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind. The margin says, a mind void
of judgment. God gave them over to a reprobate
mind to do those things which are not convenient. What a judgment
it is. when God leaves any individual
to himself, to herself, and to their own spirits. How they are
lamenting then. He's not just given them over
to the enemy, but given them over to themselves. But besides
lamenting in the course of the prayer that we have here from
verse 15 in the 63rd chapter right through to the end of chapter
64, they also are pleading with God as we said last time they
begin by speaking of the very character of God and we have
remarkable language being employed there in verse 15 where is thy
zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies
toward men are they restrained is anthropomorphic language as
it's called God being described in human terms human feelings
and emotions being ascribed onto God why they're pleading the
very character of God He is a mighty God, yes They ask that he look
down from the habitation of his holiness and of his glory, but
the mighty God is also a merciful God. Or the great God is also
one who is a gracious God. They plead then in terms of his
own character. They look to the God that he
is. They encourage themselves in that. Why back in verse 9
here in chapter 63, in all their affliction, he was afflicted. how the Lord feels for His people.
And we see it, of course, so remarkably when we come to the
New Testament Scriptures. There at the end of Hebrews chapter
4, where we're reminded of the Lord Jesus Christ and His compassionate
ministry. We have not a high priest, Paul
says, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. And then he comes to this, let
us therefore, O in view of all that Christ is, as a feeling
high priest, a real man, let us therefore come boldly to the
throne of Christ. that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. Plead the character of
the Lord Jesus. He doesn't break the bruised
reed. He doesn't quench the smoking flasks. He is kind. He is compassionate. This is
how they plead with God then in view of that terrible judgment
that was about to come upon the nation. It would come. It would
come in the appointed time. It might be another hundred years.
and yet how Isaiah here speaks of these things are so sure to
come and how they must pray to God and plead with God. Coming
now to consider what he says here in the opening verse of
the 64th chapter, "...or that thou wouldest rend the heavens
that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow
down at thy presence. God himself then, God coming
down. God coming down. And what do they do here as they
speak of this? Why they're imploring God. It's
a very simple request that we have in the text before us this
morning, and yet really we see how they are emboldened, they
implore God, they reason with God. But doesn't God invite you
that that's how they should come to Him? Back in the opening chapter,
that great verse, verse 18 of chapter 1, come now, says God,
and let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wall how gracious God is he invites that they should
come and as he invites them to come so they here also invite
the Lord God himself to come or that thou wouldest come or
that thou wouldest come down it's interesting to observe the
the progression that we do see in this particular prayer as
we've already intimated when we come back to the beginning
of the prayer there at verse 15 in the previous chapter the
request that they make to God is look down look down from heaven
and behold but there's certainly a progression
there when we come to our text this morning, or that thou wouldest
render heavens and that thou wouldest come down. Is there
not progression where there is real prayer? True prayer is much
more than simply saying words. True prayer is coming to close
quarters with God True prayer in that sense is us, as it were,
taking ground inch by inch. We have a remarkable example
of it in the prayer of Abraham back in Genesis chapter 18. There
we see that the Lord God would do nothing but He would first
come and speak of what He is about to do to His servant Abraham. and he's going to come and destroy
those wicked cities of the Plague Sodom and Gomorrah but that was
the land of course where Abraham's nephew Lot had gone when there
had been the necessity of a division because there was some disputing
between the herdsmen of Abraham and the herdsmen of Lot Lot had
been given the choice and he had taken all that lush play. Now the area of the Dead Sea,
but at that time before God's judgment fell upon those wicked
cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, it must have been the most lush
place. And there was Lot, he'd gone and he'd entered into that
city, that wicked city of Sodom. and God is going to visit judgments
upon those wicked Sodomites. Therefore really when we think
about it we live in a land that is full of Sodomites and yet
God doesn't visit his judgment upon us yet. There are certainly
those indications of God's displeasure and yet remarkably we're spared,
we're provided for How men, you see, are so foolish in their
sinful ways, how they disregard the Word of God. But God visited
judgments upon Sodom and Gomorrah. And we're told there in Genesis
18 how previously He comes to Abraham. Abraham has that remarkable
experience where he meets with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Angel
of the Lord. and he pleads. And the point I make is how he's
emboldened in his prayer. You remember how he prays. He
asks that the Lord God would spare those cities if there were
50 righteous, if there were 50 saved sinners, 50 justified sinners
in that city. Would God spare it? And God says
he will spare it and so he's emboldened and by degrees he
comes down. 45. fourteen, thirteen, twenty, ten. Oh, if there be ten, ten souls,
ten side sinners, there in the cities, will the Lord God spare
it? He takes ground, as it were,
from the Lord God in His prayers, inch by inch. You see, the more
one prays, the more one is emboldened in his prayers and this is what
we have here they begin by simply asking that the Lord God would
look down and behold but then they want God to do something
more they want the Lord God himself to come or that thou wouldest
come down or to be those who are truly emboldened we see it
not only in in Abraham who is the the father of believers,
the father of all them that believe, we see it also in Jacob when
he becomes Israel there at Penia. And we see him initially having
to wrestle with the angel of the Lord. But he has to give
over wrestling when the Lord touches the hollow of his thigh
and he is crippled What does he do? He has to give over his
wrestlings and he has to simply begin to cling and to cleave. You know the language there in
Genesis 32, Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with
him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he
prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh.
and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled
with him and he said let me go for the day breaketh and he said
I will not let thee go except thou bless me one minute Jacob
is able to wrestle it's a wrestling match but then when the Lord
comes and touches him no more can he wrestle he simply clings
and clings I will not let thee go he says all this is to be
emboldened in prayer And this is what we see, I say,
here in this prayer of Isaiah. There is a certain progression. Look. Look down from heaven. And then in the text, come down. Or that they would just come
down and then in verse 3, Thou camest down Thou camest down and the mountains
flow down at Thy presence and how we knew that God should
come down to us and the mountains be made to to flow at His presence
that hard adamant heart that's in us all by nature. What can
move it? We sang just now in the hymn,
there's nothing that can move our heart, unfeeling heart, but
the Holy Spirit. Neither God's judgments nor God's
mercies, if we simply hear of them, can have any effect upon
us. To hear the sorrows thou hast
felt, dear Lord, an adamant would mouth, But I can read each moving
line and nothing moves this heart of mine." How true, we read. We read the accounts and we have
it four times in the Gospels of course. The awful sufferings
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can read it and feel nothing.
Then again we can read of God's awful judgments. We've mentioned
already the judgments that came upon those cities of the play.
thy judgments too unmoved I hear, amazing thought, which devils
fear, goodness and wrath in vain combine to stir this stupid heart
of mine, a heart so hard, oh that thou wouldst rend the
heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might
flow down at thy presence, how we need that gracious movement
of the Spirit of God and so in the last verse of the hymn that
something yet can do the deed and that is something much I
need thy Spirit can from dross refine and move and melt this
heart of mine says Joseph heart, how true how we knew that the
Lord would do it and the Lord does do it the Lord does do it,
He comes down That's what we see here in the third verse.
Thou camest down. The mountains flowed down at
thy presence. Oh God will do it. Why? We know
that because God has done it. Look at the language again of
the Psalms. I was looking at it this morning
and it struck me there in the 10th Psalm and the language that
we have at the end of the Psalm in verse 17. Lord, thou hast
heard the desire of the humble, thou wilt prepare their hearts,
thou wilt cause thine ear to hear. Do you see what he says? He says thou hast, therefore
thou wilt. Thou hast heard, thou wilt prepare,
thou wilt cause thine ear to hear. This is our hope, this
is our confidence when it comes to prayer. God has done it, God
will do it. Why in the New Testament, in
2nd Corinthians 1 and verse 10, we read of that deliverance past,
deliverance in the present, deliverance in the future. who delivered
us from so great a death, says Paul, and doth deliver, in whom
we trust that He will yet deliver us. It's past, it's present,
it's future. This is the God that we have
to do with when we come to plead with Him. The best returns for one like
me, so wretched and so poor, is from His gifts to draw a play. and ask him still for more says
John Newton how true how true it is and how does God answer
his people look at verse 3 here when thou didst terrible things
it says which we look not for thou camest down the mountains
flowed down at thy presence oh God did terrible things he did
terrible things in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt
when they come to the borders of the Promised Land in Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy chapter 10 we see there in verse 21 how Moses reminds
them of the terrible things these great and terrible things which
thine eyes have seen why they'd seen God's terrible works in
Egypt had they not when he visited all his judgments upon the Egyptians,
the ten plagues. They'd seen his terrible judgments
there at the Red Sea, when he brought the children of Israel
safely through the sea, but destroyed the armies of Pharaoh. They'd
seen his terrible judgments through all the wilderness wanderings. And then when they came to the
borders of the promised land, God would destroy those wicked
kings. When thou didst terrible things,
which we look not for. The Psalmist again says, By terrible
things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our
salvation. and as God's coming did terrible
things so when God came also how the mountains moved all the
mountains moved that the mountains might flow down at thy presence
and then again in verse 3 the mountains flowed down at thy
presence when they left Egypt and when they came to Mount Sinai. What did they see there when
the Lord God brought them to himself and was about to enter
into covenant with them? We're told of the setting wherein
the Lord God met with them in the previous chapter there, Exodus
20 of course has the 10 Commandments, but in the previous 19th chapter
Verse 16, We really counted past on the third day in the morning
that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud
upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud,
so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses
brought forth the people out of the camp to meet the Lord,
and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And Mount
Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon
it in fire. And the smoke thereof ascended
as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. Now we read of it in that portion
of Psalm 68. Verse 7, O God, when Thou wentest
forth before Thy people, when Thou didst march through the
wilderness, Selah the earth shook. The heavens also dropped at the
presence of God, even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of
God, the gods of Israel. And we observe how between these
two verses we have the sealer indicating that there's some
pause, there's something to consider here. Or when the Lord God descends,
when the Lord God is pleased to come down, why the mountains? the mountains are moved at the
presence of God. He did it. He did it when he
brought their fathers out of Egypt and he will do it again
when he brings his children out of the captivity. This is the
context. We have to take account of the
context if we're going to do justice to the Word of God. In
its historical context it's a prayer for deliverance. from captivity. They are lamenting, as we said,
over the sad state of Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord. The
end of the prayer in verse 10, Thy holy cities are a wilderness,
Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy, our beautiful
house, where our Father's praise is burned up with fire, all our
pleasant things are laid waste. That's the situation. But what
are they asking? Oh, that they would just rend
the heavens. That they would just come down, that the mountains
might flow down at my presence. God is able to answer them. They are to pray. They are to
plead with Him concerning these things. And there is that promise. There's that promise that we
find previously back in the 40th chapter and that Remarkable chapter
looks of course beyond, clearly looks beyond the deliverance
from Babylon. He looks at something far greater. Speaks of the ministry of John
the Baptist of chapter 14. The voice of in the Christ in
the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted,
every mountain and hill shall be made low. and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed. And all flesh shall see together,
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Or we're to look
beyond deliverance from Babylon, to look to the New Testament,
we're to look to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now all
of this is ultimately fulfilled in that Gospel. If ye have faith
as a grain of mustard seed, says Christ, ye shall say unto this
mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and
nothing shall be impossible to you. Oh God, you see, is able
to do mighty things. And He does these mighty works,
these terrible works, in the Gospel day, in the day of Christ.
but all what pleadings, what implorings we see when we look
at the way in which these people were to approach God and speak
to God and pray to Him concerning their deliverance from Babylon and we should plead
with Him concerning the Gospel that greatest of all the works
of God or that they would have rend the heavens that they would
have come down that the mountain might flow down at thy presence
here we see them imploring God, pleading with God but notice
also here something of their desire and we see it we see the
intensity of their desire in the opening word of the text
that little word Oh The prayer here, or the verse
here, because the prayer really begins as we said back at verse
15 in chapter 63, but this opening word is an exclamation. It's an exclamation and yet it's
part of the prayer. Remember what Christ says in
his ministry? One jot or one tittle shall in
no wise pass from the Lord till all be fulfilled. Do you know
what the Jot and the Tittle are? The Jot is the smallest of all
the letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Some say that the Tittle is a
reference to the vowel pointings. The Hebrew alphabet consists
simply of consonants. And the vowel sounds are indicated
by little dots and dashes placed under the consonants. And some
say that's what the Tittle is, just a dot or a dash. Others
say that it's a reference to a part of one of the consonants
that would be there to distinguish one letter from another letter.
But it's a very small mark. And yet Christ says, one jot
or one sittle shall in no wise pass from the Lord, that is the
whole Word of God, until all is fulfilled. And so
this exclamation, is part of Scripture, part of
the Word of God to us. What does it indicate? Well,
it shows that these people are not dispassionate in their praying.
They're not coming and cruelly and coldly making their requests
unto God. No, these people, they're in
earnest. They have such an intensity of
desire that God would do the thing that they're asking Him
to do. What we have here really is an
expression of such earnest longing in their hearts. Oh, they want
God to come! Oh, that thou wouldest reign
the heavens! That thou wouldest come down! It reminds us of that remarkable
prayer of Jabez that lovely prayer of Jabez you know it back in
1st Chronicles 4 verse 10 that little gem of a prayer and it's
it's there buried away in the midst of all that list of names
all those genealogies you skip over the genealogies the names
aren't easy for us to pronounce and we can easily As we quickly
go through those opening chapters of 1 Chronicles, we can miss
that remarkable prayer. 1 Chronicles 4.10. And it begins in the same way.
Oh, says Jabez, Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and
enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that
thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And
it says, God's granted him that which you requested. It isn't
pray in vain. You see, when we're in earnest
with God, it's not in vain. He says himself, you shall seek
me and find me when you shall search after me with all your
heart. Here is a people and their heart
is in their prayer. Oh, that they would us. Oh, they
want God to come. Oh, they wanted God to look upon
them. They wanted God to see them in their sad plight there,
languishing in Babylon. Look down from heaven and behold. And they want God to be moved
as He sees their awful plight. But more than that, oh, that
they would offend the heavens. They want the Lord God to come.
Oh, are we those, friends, who desire that the Lord God would
come to us? Again, that hymn that we sang
just now, the rocks can rend, the earth can quake, the seas
can roar, the mountains shake, a feeling, a feeling, all things
show some sign, but this unfeeling heart of mine. Oh God grant that
we might have a heart to feel these things. We don't just want
a religion in the head, we don't just want that sort of, what
they call a Sandimanian faith, an intellectual faith, just a
scent into doctrines. Oh, it's good to have a sound
mind, it's good to have our minds filled with the precious doctrines
of the Word of God, but we want these things to enter our hearts,
to take possession of our souls. Here we see them then as a people
who are in earnest, as they come and plead with God and implore
God, all what desires are there in their hearts. But then also,
and I conclude on this in a sense that they despair what do they
say in verse 3 when they did terrible
things they say which we look not for thou camest down the
mountains flowed down at thy presence God did terrible things
it says which we look not for What do those four words indicate
which we look not for? Well, it doesn't mean that they've
not pried. They certainly pried in Egypt.
We're told what their prayer was. It was a remarkable prayer.
It's spoken of there at the end of Exodus chapter 2. It came to pass in the 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 covenant with Abraham and with
Isaac and with Jacob and God looked upon the children of Israel
and God had respect unto them. Now they prayed, they sighed
They cried, they groaned, words failed them but they were full
of prayers, real prayers again. We sang of it just now in Berridge's
hymn. For thee my soul would cry and
send a laboring groan, for thee my heart would sigh. and make
a pensive moan, that each for thee would daily pine, and would
be always only thine, says Beritch." Oh, what prayers, you see. They
prayed in Egypt. And likewise, when they're in
Babylon, when again they're removed into a place of awful bondage,
in order for deliverance there must be prayer. We see that in
Ezekiel 36, and there at the end of the chapter, Thus saith the Lord God, I will
yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel. To do it
for them I will increase them with men like a flock, as the
holy flock as the flock of Jerusalem in a solemn feast. So shall the
white cities be filled with flocks of men, and they shall know that
I am the Lord. Or God would deliver them, and
there the wastes of Jerusalem would be people to gain. I will increase them, he says,
with men like a flock, but they must come and they must pray.
They did pray. When he says we look not for,
doesn't mean that they not prayed about these things. What it indicates
is their surprise. How God surprised them. Their state seemed to be so utterly
helpless. Oh, it was hopeless. They were even beginning to despair.
Seventy years! Seventy years they were going
to be there in exile. Why? That's a lifetime. Man's
years. Spoken of as three score year
and ten. It's a long time, a whole life. No wonder they were on the point
of despair. Would deliverance ever come?
Again, the language of the Psalmist. So many of the Psalms, of course,
are prayers. In Psalm 13, he says, How long
wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever. How long wilt thou hide
thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall
my enemy be exalted over me? Four times in those verses, those
two verses. How long? How long? How long? How long? Is it like
that with us? Sometimes it seems that the Lord's
not hearing us. It was the same with these people.
It wasn't that they didn't cry, but God's time was long. That
it's terrible things, it says, which we look not for. Ah, but
God did hear, and God did answer, and this is the same God that
we have to do with, and He surprises us. Why? He is able to do exceeding,
abundantly, above all that we ask or think. That's our comfort.
That's the God that we have to do with. That's His character.
He will look down from heaven. He does look down. from heaven. He beholds from the habitation
of His holiness and of His glory. But He doesn't just look. He
comes, He answers the prayer of all them that seek Him. He
never says to the seed of Jacob, seek Him, I face in vain. Oh, that thou wouldest rend the
heavens, that thou wouldest come down that the mountains might
flow down at thy presence or that we might be those friends
who would thus desire that the Lord himself would come and implore
him and plead with him that he will hear our prayer and answer
our prayer and so he did for these people when thou didst
terrible things which we look not for thou camest down the
mountains flowed down at Thy presence. Oh, the Lord come then
and move each of us in our hearts today for His name's sake. Amen.