ISAIAH - CHAPTER 64 - The Prayer of the Remnant
ISAIAH 64 – A NEW PRAYER- The Prayer of the Remnant
Tuesday Morning Bible Study
April 28, 2015, the Year of Our Lord
The prayer of the Remnant continues beseeching the Lord to assert His power over the nations. Not content with praying for God’s favor, they also ask for a manifestation of the Divine Presence.
64: 1-3: “Oh that you would rend the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might flow down at Your presence. As when the melting fire burns, the fire causes the waters to boil, to make Your name known to Your adversaries that the nations may tremble at Your presence! When You did terrible things which we did not look for, You came down. The mountains flowed down at Your presence.”
Sunday as I was preaching, and received the revelation that when the church is reproached for the name of Christ (1 Pet. 4:14), we are to be happy for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon us.
The nations of the world and the church are in a time of great tribulation and reproach. In times of great persecution, the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father “rests”, “falls” and “indwells” the Church in the Spirit of glory which is the power of His “might”.
As Kevin Skelton pointed out Sunday morning, this would have been the power of the Holy Spirit who broke the chains off Peter in prison.
Let us join our prayer with the prayer of the Remnant who were in exile in Babylon and like us “hung their harps on the willows” as we press in for the power of the “might” of the Holy Spirit of God to assert God’s power over this nation, the nations of the earth, and the church.
To rend the heavens means to “tear asunder”--- as the Lord did when he rent the veil.
The petition is that God will appear wonderfully for them. When God works an extraordinary deliverance for his people, he is said to shine forth, to show himself strong. This is applicable to the second coming of Christ, when the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.
We can pray in agreement with this Holy Scripture which was written as holy men of God spoke by the Holy Spirit. Let things be put in tumult in order for there to be a glorious revolution in favor of the church. As it is written in Hebrews 12:26-27: “Whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. This word, Yet once more signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. We received a Kingdom which cannot be moved. Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly fear.”
They desire this mighty visitation of glory will make God’s name glorious. We live in a world that arrogantly blasphemes the name of God with no shame or conviction. Men and women use the name of God to make their name glorious. This prayer beseeches the Lord to make His name known to his adversaries that the nations might tremble at His presence.
The earthquake in Nepal is tragic. However, I read yesterday the Hindus are blaming the earthquake on people eating beef. Also, the authorities recently burned a young man at the stake because he would not renounce Christianity.
Well I can join with this prayer and pray that the God of heaven and earth, who shakes not only earth, but heaven, will make His name known to His adversaries and cause the nations to tremble at His presence.
God’s name is a stronghold into which we may run and are safe. But it is a strong hold against the sinner who rejects Jesus Christ and worships other gods. There is no other Jesus and no other Holy Spirit.
They plead to the Lord to remember what he did for his people Israel when he brought them out of Egypt. He did terrible things in the plagues of Egypt which they looked not for. Then he came down upon Mount Sinai in such terror as made Sinai and the other mountains to flow down at his presence, “to skip like rams” (Ps. 114:4).
Some refer to this as the defeat of Sennacherib’s army which was as surprising an instance of divine power as the melting down of rocks and mountains.
It is to be noted that Mt. Everest in Nepal is the highest mountain in the world and it shook along with other mountains in the Himalayan mountain range.
They further plead for the provision he has made for the safety and happiness of his people.
64: 4-5: “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, beside You, what He has prepared for him that waits for Him. You meet him that rejoices and works righteousness, those that remember You in Your ways; behold, You are angry; for we have sinned; in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.”
The literal meaning of 64:4 is “Who works for him that waits for Him.” Again from the Sunday morning message as we studied the Holy Spirit. He is well pleased in His work on which he rests; and abides where he rests. Men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, beside You, what You work for those who wait for You.
This is to not get ahead of God. The Holy Spirit does not rest or abide on the work of our flesh, but His work.
It is all that is the goodness which the Lord has laid up for those who fear him and trust in Him.
Much of it was concealed in former ages. They knew it not because the unsearchable riches of Christ hidden in God were hidden from the wise and prudent. But in latter ages were revealed by the gospel. 1 Cor. 2: 9-10) God has revealed them to us by his Spirit. That which men had not heard since the beginning of the world they should hear before the end of it.
It cannot be fully comprehended by the human understanding. It is spiritual and will far outdo our expectations.
In verse 5, God is said to meet the people to whom righteousness means so much that they practice righteousness with rejoicing; and those who are mindful of God’s ways and show their respect by walking in them. There is wonderful communion between a gracious God and a gracious soul! We must be cheerful in doing our duty. We must rejoice and work righteousness. We must delight ourselves in God and sing at our work.
This intimates the friendship, fellowship, and familiarity to which God admits his people. He will bless us with his good and rejoice to do well to those who love him and work righteousness.
The prophet strengthens his own faith as he remembers how God has worked on behalf of His people in the past. We must all strengthen our own faith. This memory of His faithfulness produces a new sense of their unfaithfulness. Out of the midst of desolation and destruction, he appeals to Jehovah to act on behalf of His people.
64: 6-7: “We are as an unclean thing and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. There is none that calls upon Your name that stirs up himself to take hold of You; for You have hid Your face from us, and have consumed us, because of our iniquities.
The complaint is that notwithstanding the sinful state of the people, all continue in indifference and lethargy with none to stir himself up enough to lay hold of God in intercession.
Prayer was neglected. There is none to seek the Lord for grace to reform them; or for mercy to relieve them; or to pray to take away the judgments which their sins brought upon them.
We must pray taking hold of God and by faith take hold of His promises. God has made it his good will to us to take hold of him as one who wrestles with God. But when we take hold of God, we are not pulling God to our way, but Him pulling us to His. Once we take hold of God, wrestling with Him in passion, then He changes us.
“We all fade as a leaf”. We not only wither and lose our beauty, but we fall and drop off if we grow dry and sapless. If we are not continually seeking and laying hold of God, then our iniquities like the wind will take us away and carry us into bondage, as the winds of autumn blow off, and then blow away the withered leaves.
64: 8-12: “But now, O Lord, You are our father; we are the clay. You are our potter, and we all are the work of Your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord, neither remember iniquity forever. Behold, see, we beseech You, we are all Your people. Your holy cities are a wilderness. Zion is a wilderness. Jerusalem is in desolation. Our holy and beautiful house where our fathers praise You is burned with fire. All our pleasant things are laid waste. Will You refrain Yourself for these things, O Lord? Will You hold Your peace, and afflict us beyond measure?
We see the exiles in a state of humility and contriteness confessing their plight and supplicating God for the end of their sufferings. There sins were uncleanness (5-6), unconcern (7), and unyieldedness (8).
Will you refuse to give way in compassion for these things? When God is injured in his honor, the prayer of the remnant aligns with Psalm 83:1 as do the events of our present time as we see the nations of the earth conspiring against Israel and Christianity. “Do not keep Your silence, O God; do not hold Your peace, and do not be still, O God. For, lo, Your enemies make a tumult; and they that hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted against Your hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may no longer be remembered. They have consulted together with one consent. They are a confederacy against You.”
God has said that he will not contend for ever. Therefore his people may be assured their afflictions shall neither be too extreme nor to eternity, but light and for a moment.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture form K.J.V. – I entered into the labors of Matthew Henry’s Commentary. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of M.H.