Let us turn again to God's Word in the portion that we read,
Isaiah chapter 63. And I want this morning to direct
your attention for a while to verses 15 and 16. Isaiah chapter
63, 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 bells and
of thy mercies toward men, are they restrained? Doubtless thou
art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and though
Israel acknowledge us not. Thou, O Lord, art our Father,
our Redeemer. Thy name is from everlasting. The words that I've just read
really mark the beginning of a prayer and that prayer runs
right through to the end of chapter 64 and it is very much a prayer
for the captives, those who had been taken away into exile in
Babylon. those who have witnessed the
awful desolations of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple
of the Lords, as we see at the end of the prayer, verse 10 in
chapter 64, 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." Isaiah, as we've said on other occasions,
is really ministering about a hundred years before those terrible events
that came upon Israel, came upon Jerusalem. He speaks of that
judgment, but he also speaks of the restoration. It would
be returns out of the captivity in God's appointed time. And
so, besides the warning of judgment, there are also many promises
to be found here in the prophecy of Isaiah. But also there are
prayers. And what we have here is one
of those prayers. Prayers for those who were the
captives and the Outcasts, 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 men? Art 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. Oh, how the outcasts then are
brought to seek the face of God and to call upon His name, that
God will yet remember, that God will hear, and God will answer
their prayers. But this prayer is is not only intended for those
of the captivity. It belongs, of course, to God's
children. In every generation it belongs
to those who are believers under the gospel. We know that all
these things happened unto them for examples. They're written
for our admonition, Paul says, upon whom the ends of the world
are come. They're written for us in this gospel day. whatever things were written
before time were written for our learning that we through
patience and comfort of these scriptures might have hope and
we know from the New Testament that this prayer has an application
to the gospel, to the gospel church those words that we find
in verse 4 of the 64th chapter, 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. Those who are waiting upon God
in prayer for the restoration But more than that, those words
that we've just read at verse 4 in that 64th chapter are taken
up by Paul writing in the New Testament. If you turn to the
first letter to the Corinthians and there in the second chapter,
1 Corinthians chapter 2 and we
see how the words are quoted at verse 9 but 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. And then Paul goes on to speak
of the Gospel. But God hath revealed them unto
us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searches 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 Spirit of God. May
we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God, which things also we speak, that is the apostolic
gospel, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which
the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. And so, as that part of the prayer
That fourth verse in chapter 64 is taken up and understood
and interpreted in terms of the gospel. Surely it is not improper
that we see that the whole of this prayer that runs from verse
15 in chapter 63 right through to the end of chapter 64, this
whole prayer has an application to God's children under the Gospel. And so this morning as we turn
to these verses, verses 15 and 16, I want to speak on the subject
of the outcasts, the outcasts of Israel. Hymn 223 seems to
be based on this passage, Lord pity outcasts, vile and base,
the poor dependents on thy grace, whom men disturb, as called by
sinners and by saints withstood. For these too bad, for those
too good, condemned or shunned by all, though faithful Abraham
us reject, and though his ransomed race elect, agree to give us
up, thou art our Father, and thy name from everlasting is
the same. On that we build our hope. The outcast of Israel then is
the theme that we want to consider. And as we look at these verses
in this 63rd chapter, first of all, I want us to consider this
plea that the outcasts are making. Here, in the middle of verse
15, Where is thy zeal and thy strength? the sounding of thy
bowels and of thy mercies toward me." Well this is their play,
their pleading with God, their pleading with God in terms of
God's own character, the sort of God that He is. Now observe
in the context how the Jews remembered God and His gracious dealings
with them from times past. If we go back in the chapter
to verse 10, we see what was the cause of their exile. They had rebelled against God.
They rebelled and vexed His Holy Spirit. Therefore He was turned
to be their enemy and they fought against Him. God doesn't wink
at their sins. We know something of what was
happening. We have the history of the times
of Isaiah in the historic books of the kings and of the chronicles. We know that there were wicked
kings, as well as godly kings that were raised up. But now,
time and again, the nation was sunk in the most awful, gross
idolatry. And God would deal with them.
God would visit his judgment upon them because of their sins
and so that is acknowledged here at verse 10. They were the cause of all those
troubles They were the ones who caused that God should turn himself
against them and fight against them as if they were his enemy. Now previously, as I say, in
the following verses, 11 through to 14, previously God had delivered
them from Egypt. See how God is spoken of here
at verse 11. Then 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 water 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. They're speaking of God and God's
dealings in times past with them. And it's interesting how they
turn, as it were, from speaking of God and his previous dealings
and they, in verse 14, begin to speak to God. There's a change
in verse 14, a significant change. He says, "...as a beast goeth
down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest."
And then there's a change in the person, they're speaking
in the third person previously, then they begin to speak in the
second person. "...so didst thou lead thy people
to make thyself a glorious name." Instead of speaking of God, and
the way in which God had dealt with them under Moses and granted
them such a glorious deliverance out of Egypt and made a way through
the Red Sea and led them through the wilderness and then brought
them through Jordan into the land of promise instead of speaking
of all those dealings with his ancient people now they begin
to speak to God and really those words at the end of verse 14
so didst thou lead thy people to make thyself a glorious name
introduces us to this long prayer. As I say, the prayer really begins
here at verse 15. Look down from heaven and behold
from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory and so forth. And that prayer runs right the
way through to the end of verse 12. And we can see a sort of
progression here as we consider this prayer and we consider the
context in which this prayer is set. Back in verse 10 they
are confronted by their sin and the fact of their sin and how
they had really brought all of this trouble upon themselves
by their rebellion. and the way they vexed God and
turned God to be against them, they provoked Him by their sins
there in verse 10. Then we have God's gracious dealings,
spoken of in verses 11 through to 14, God's gracious dealings
in the past. But then when we come to verse
15, it's not so much God's dealings that they are pleading, But more
especially, it is God's own character. It's the sort of God that He
is that they come to pray over. That is the language that we
have here. Where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding
of thy bells and of thy mercies toward me? Are they restrained? well can we not learn a lesson
here when we come to pray we're not to be so subjective so taken
up with ourselves and all that we are but we should be taken
up with God and all that God is that's how we encourage ourselves
we should be more objective we should look away from ourselves
pour not on thyself too long lest it sink thee lower look
to Jesus kind a strong mercy joined with power. Yes, there's a place for us to
examine ourselves. We should do that. Certainly
we are exhorted to do that when we come to this first Lord's
Day of the month and we observe that holy ordinance. Remember
the language of Paul to the Corinthians, let a man examine himself. and
so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup if we are
going to eat and drink in a becoming fashion we are to be those who
are discerning in the elements, the body and the blood of the
Lord Jesus we have to examine ourselves not that we are looking
for any worth in self but I trust we come as those who are duly
prepared as we would wait upon God and seek there to enter into
the intimacy of communion with God the Father and God the Son
and God the Holy Spirit and all the glories of that salvation. There's a place for self-examination. But when we come to God or let
us be those who ultimately are brought to look away, to look
away from ourselves, and to consider who it is that we're dealing
with. The Lord Jesus, in his patterned
prayer, tells us, when you pray, say, Our Father, which art in
heaven, hallowed be thy name. Oh, how that prayer begins with
God, you see. We remind ourselves who God is,
and God is in heaven, and God is the Holy One. And yet, He
who is high and holy is the God that we can come and address
in the most intimate of terms. We can call upon Him as our Father. And here we have it, you see.
In verse 16, doubtless, Thou art our Father. In spite of all
that's come upon us, 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. Ought to remind ourselves then
as we come to prayer of the character of God. The God that we are so
privileged to have dealings with. This God. And there are two particular
aspects of the character of God that we see them pleading at
the beginning of this prayer. First of all, there is the greatness
of God, the majesty of God. Where is thy zeal and thy strength? God is zealous for his own glory. God is a jealous God. Exodus
34, 14, the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God. And he has pity upon his children
because of his own limestack. In Ezekiel chapter 36 verse 21 it
says, but I had pity for my holy nine which the house of Israel
hath profaned among the heathen, whither they went. Therefore
say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do
not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for mine holy
name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye
went. And I will sanctify my great
name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned
in the midst of them, and the heathen shall know that I am
the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in
you before their eyes. For I will take you from among
the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring
you into your own lands. How God is zealous, you see,
for His own namesake. Verse 32, He says, Not for your
sake do I this, saith the Lord God. Be it known unto you, be
ashamed, and confound it for your own ways, O house of Israel."
God has a zeal, I say, for His own name. Again, here in Isaiah
48, in verse 9, He says, For my name's sake will I defer mine
anger? Verse 11, For mine own sake,
even for mine own sake will I do it? For how should my name be
polluted? and I will not give my glory
unto another or the zeal of God. Our God must be true to Himself,
true to His own character. If we believe not, yet He abides
us faithful. He cannot deny Himself. This is our comfort, the God
that we have to do with and He is the great God. He's not a
man that He should lie. nor the son of man that he should
repent, hath he said it, shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken
it, shall he not make it good? It is his zeal, you see. And
this is the play here in the prayer. Where is thy zeal and
thy strength previously? We go back in the book to the
37th chapter. And look at what we have there
at verse 32, but also the previous verse, verse 31. We read of the
remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah, shall again take
route downward and bare front upward. For out of Jerusalem
shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount
Zion, the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. All God
has a zeal. He must be true to Himself. God has spoken once, twice have
I heard this, that power belongeth unto the Lord. There we are. Here in the text, it is His zeal,
it is His strength, His ability. Why is that? God who is able
to do the thing that He has said. and he's visited his judgments
upon them he's taken them away, he's removed them from Jerusalem
and it was a terrible thing to see the temple of the Lord trodden
on the foot of the Gentiles when the armies of the Babylonians
came and desecrated that holy place and God removes them into
captivity It's God's zeal for His own holiness, but He also
has a zeal that is associated with His goodness and with His
grace. He will yet deliver them. And
here we have it, you see. It's not only the greatness of
God, the majesty of God, it's also the grace of God and the
mercy of God that we find them pleading at the beginning of
the prayer. Where is thy zeal? and thy strength,
the sounding of thy bowels, and of thy mercies toward me, are
thy restraint." The language is most interesting.
It's what the theologians called anthropomorphic language. In
other words, it's God being spoken of in human terms. Emotions being
stirred. God's heart, as it were, being
touched. When we're touched emotionally
our stomachs are churned within us and so forth. And this is
a sort of language that is being employed here to describe the
way in which God feels for his people. How he yearns over them. And again, we see it in the language
of the prophets. We have it, for example, in Jeremiah's
book. In Jeremiah 31, at verse 20,
the question is put, Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant
child? For since I spoke against him,
I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are troubled
for him. I will surely have mercy upon
him, saith the Lord." All God feels for His people as He comes
to touch them, as He comes to afflict them again in the book
of the prophet Hosea. Hosea 11 and there at verse 8,
How shall I give thee up? Ephraim says. How shall I deliver
the Israel? My heart is turned within me. My repentings are kindled together. God, speaking as if he were a
man, has such tender feelings towards his children, when he
sees them so much in the midst of all their sufferings. This
is the God, you see, that we are dealing with. This is the
God, then, that we see these people pleading with, and they
remind themselves of his character. He is that one who is the great
God. He is that one who is majestic,
a God who is true to Himself. Here at the beginning of verse
15, Behold, it says, from the habitation of thy holiness and
of thy glory. Oh, that throne is no precarious
throne, where God sits, from where God will judge his people.
But this God is also the God who is a good God. Or, says the
Psalmist, thou art good, and thou doest good. And as I say,
our God is one who feels for his people. Here at verse 9 we're
told, 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. This
is the God, this is the character of our God and now we have it
of course ultimately revealed to us in the person and the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. O God who at sundry time in diverse
manner spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets by
the prophets Isaiah or Jeremiah or Hosea. But God in these last
days, why? He has spoken unto us by His
Son. And how we see it in what's recorded
there in the Gospels, the ministry of the Lord Jesus. The tenderness
of that ministry. He doesn't break a bruised wreath. He doesn't quench a smoking flask.
Oh how the Lord is so kind, so compassionate. Remember the language
of the Apostle, the end of Hebrews chapter 4, We have not an high
priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without seeing. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of Christ, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Why it's a character. of God
that Paul says should move us to pray when we consider that
revelation of God that we witnessed in the person of His only begotten
Son when we consider that great work that the Lord Jesus Christ
has accomplished here upon the earth when He comes to execute
all His covenant engagements to fulfill all righteousness,
to live for sinners and to die for sinners remember the strength
of Paul's language there where we have that double negative
at the beginning of that 15th verse in Hebrews 4 we have not
an high priest he says which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities and now that double Negative makes such an
emphatic positive. It's such a glorious statement.
Here is one who most surely and certainly is touched. He is touched
with the feeling of our infirmities. Who in the days of his flesh
when he had offered up prayer and supplication with strong
crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death
and was hurt in that he failed. Though he were a son yet learned
the obedience all by the things that he suffered the Lord Jesus
is a real man he is bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh and
he feels for us in all their affliction he was afflicted and
as I said the point that the apostle is making there at the
end of that fourth chapter of Hebrews is that it is God revealed
in Christ and all that tenderness of his ministry as the great
high priest that should move us to pray. Let us therefore
come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in every time of need and it's the same
here in the prayer. Israel would remind himself of
the character of his God as he turns now from talking about
God and God's previous dealings with the people in the days of
Moses so did so lead thy people to make thyself a glorious name
at the end of verse 14 and then here in the text look down 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 restraint? Or what boldness in pleading
with God, daring to remind God of himself and the sort of God
he is, and desiring not only that he would look down, their emboldened life at the
beginning of the next chapter or that they would just rend
the heavens that thou wouldest come down that the mountains
might flow down at thy presence that God would actually come
this is the prayer you see of those who are very much the remnant
who feel themselves to be a people so forsaken The people who are
cast off, the people who are cast out. 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. How often God's children feel
themselves to be so very much alone. We sang in the magical psalm
and I chose those opening verses of the psalm because of the experience
that the psalm is speaking of there in that psalm. He feels
himself to be alone. I am like a pelican of the wilderness. I am like an owl of the desert. I watch and I am as a sparrow
alone upon the housetop. Mine enemies reproach me all
the day, and they that are mad against me are sworn against
me. All our God's children are brought
sometimes into these circumstances where they feel what they are,
the outcasts, and the outcasts of Israel. And this is the language then
of the the people of God, that people who are such a very little
remnant in the earth. We know even in Israel, that
they're not all Israel, that are of Israel. The true spiritual
Israel was always a remnant there in the midst of the nation. And so they come here pleading
with God, but then observe also in the second place their petitions.
they have their play as it were pleading God's all that God is,
his character his majesty, his mercy but also they have particular
prayers and this is how we are to pray you know we are to come
and to deal with God in particulars we don't just deal in generalities
when we come to God with our prayers and so here look down
from heaven they say and behold from the habitation of thy holiness
and of thy glory. What is this prayer? Well they're
asking God to take account of them, to regard them. They want God to look down and
to see their situation for what it is. Now it is true of course
that God is the one who at all times sees all things. He is
the omniscient one. There's nothing that is hid from
his sight. Remember how we've spoken of
previously in chapter 40 verse 22 it is he that sitteth upon
the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them
out as a tent to dwell in God, is omniscient. From the vantage
point of heaven, from eternity, he sees all things in time. He
sees time from its beginning, when he created it, to the end,
when he brings in the glorious consummation of all things. And
there is nothing that is hid from the sight of God and we
know that David was very much aware of that. He speaks of God's
omnipresence. As well as His omniscience there
in the 139th Psalm, O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me,
Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, Thou understandest
my thought afar off, Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and
art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my
tongue but, O Lord, Thou knowest it all together, Thou hast beset
me behind and before, and lay thy hand upon me, such knowledge
is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto
it. All the knowledge of God, He
knows all things. He observes all things. He's ever looking and beholding
the sons of men. But what we have in this prayer,
look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy glory."
It's not a reference to that general omniscience of God, the
fact that God knows all things. But really, they're pleading
God's special sight and God's special knowledge. How that He
is the one who really looks upon His children. He's the one who
is ever beholding His children. The psalmist again cries out,
there'll be many who say, who will show us any good lords? Lift thou up the light of thy
countenance upon us. That's what they're pleading,
that God would lift up the light of his countenance. Or they're
pleading in terms of that great heavenly blessing at the end
of number 6, the Lord bless thee and keep thee, the Lord make
his face to shine upon them, be gracious unto thee, the Lord
lift up his countenance upon thee. God's eye is upon his children. The psalmist again says, keep
me as the apple of thine eye. And going back, back to God's
dealings with the children of Israel, in the 32nd chapter of
the book of Deuteronomy, Verse 9, the Lord's portion is
his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in the desert land,
and in the ways howling wilderness, he led him about and instructed
him. He kept him as the apple of his eye. Oh, this is what
they are pleading, that God would look upon them as the apple of
his eye, look down from heaven and behold from the habitation
of thy holiness and of thy glory. Oh, that thou wouldest reign
the heavens and come down, that thou wouldest visit thy people. This is the plea, the prayer,
that God would visit His judgments upon their enemies and yet grant
to Israel a glorious deliverance. regard us, that's what they're
praying. Take account of us, look upon us, Lord. Our need
is so great we can do nothing for ourselves. We're those who
are disowned and rejected of all. Though Abraham be ignorant
of us, Israel acknowledge us not. Thou, O Lord, art our Father,
our Redeemer. Thy name is from everlasting. Oh, it's a particular prayer
that God would would look and take account of them and behold
them in all their needs. But then also there's another
part to the prayer they ask God actually to restore them. They want God to restore them. The end of verse 17, they say,
return for thy servant's sake the tribes of thine inheritance. Isaiah, they say, ministering
all those many years before the captivity, warning them of what
was coming, but also giving promises of restoration and a prayer.
He prays for that restoration. And God is not to be sought in
vain. or will he not return his people?
Why, we see that this is the thing that he was indeed pleased
to do. In chapter 35 at verse 10, the
ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and
everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Oh, God is able, you
see, not only to hear but to answer the prayer of His children. Yea, He is able to do exceeding
abundantly, says Paul, above all that we ask or think. If we would but look up, remember
David's experience at Ziglac when the enemy had come and burned
Ziglag with fire, taking away all the women and the children.
David's men spoke of stoning him. They reckoned he was the
one who was culpable, he was the one who was responsible for
that awful calamity that had come upon them. What does David
do? He encourages himself. David,
it says, encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Oh God grant
us that grace that we might be those who would encourage ourselves
in the Lord. If we do it will move us to prayer.
It will move us to that prayer that is ever an expectant prayer.
Looking and watching and waiting for the answers of God. 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 men. 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. O the Lord, grant that we might
plead in that everlasting name. That's name of the Lord Jesus
who is the same yesterday and today and forever. The Lord bless to us his word. Amen. 163. There is a family on earth whose
father kills a crow, but though a seed of heavenly birth, to
men they are little known. In number 1013.