Isaiah 64:1-9New International Version (NIV)
Where: Trinity, College Road. 3 December
Minister: Brent Richardson
64 [a]Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!
2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
and cause the nations to quake before you!
3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
4 Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to[b] our sins.
8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord;
do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look on us, we pray,
for we are all your people.
Footnotes:
- Isaiah 64:1 In Hebrew texts 64:1 is numbered 63:19b, and 64:2-12 is numbered 64:1-11.
- Isaiah 64:7 Septuagint, Syriac and Targum; Hebrew have made us melt because of
For some people Christmas can’t come soon enough! I’m talking about children who become aware of the approaching day of excitement and new toys from now on. This is largely due to the unrelenting amount of junk mail that comes into the house and the weekly schedule of Christmas parades heralding the arrival of Santa.
For others there may be a sense of panic arising as they realize they are running out of time to meet the pre-Christmas deadlines or gift shopping obligations.
And some may just be ambivalent to it all. Just another Christmas- nothing to get excited about or worked up about! Just another day except the shops are shut and there are no adverts on TV.
Today is the first Sunday in Advent, the theme of which is hope. What are you hoping for this Christmas? (P) One year I mentioned in church that I was hoping for a Jet ski-thought I’d try my luck! And guess what? I got one! (P) My family brought me one- a small one to play with in the bath! It wasn’t quite what I had in mind!
What are you hoping for this Christmas? I’ve noticed as I’ve aged- and I think
this is common to many people- that my hopes for Christmas have become less
materialistic. Ask a child what they want for Christmas and you’re likely to get
a great long list of things they’ve seen in the latest Toyworld catalogue.
Ask a teenager and they may say “I don’t really want much- just a $1000 iphone”.
Ask an older man or woman and they may say things like:
I’m just looking forward to a holiday
I’d like some quality time with my family, free of stress
There are some broken relationships in my family I’d like to see healed…
(P) Hope, along with love joy and peace, is one of the great themes of the
Christmas message. In our consumerist world we’ve shallowed this to the
acquisition of toys and trinkets but hope carries great theological significance.
It is also crucial for a healthy life. We all need hope.
Our reading opens with a deep heart-felt cry: Oh that you would rends the heavens and come down. That little word- Oh- expresses the deep hope and longing that God would once again visit his people with great signs of his power so that the unbelievers are left in no doubt that God is real, powerful, fearful and not to be trifled with.
(P) There’s a scene in my favourite animated movie, The Road to El Dorado in which the heroes- Tulio and Miguel- con artists who have stowed on a ship bound for the New World- encounter a tribe in the jungle of South America. They are mistaken for gods who have come to visit this tribe. The priest, Tzekal Kan, is delighted that the gods have come down and he implores them to ‘visit your wrath on these unbelievers’.
The writer of Isaiah may have had something similar in mind. He is aware of the unfaithfulness of God’s people, that any apparent righteousness they exhibit is really only filthy rags (an allusion to menstrual clothes). He longs for God to come down from his lofty, hidden dwelling place and confront the people with his holiness and splendour and force them to repent and return to the life they are supposed to live.
And he had history to draw on. What he is describing here is what happened when the Israelites were led by Moses to Mt Sinai. Moses went up the mountain and the Lord came down upon it to meet him. Here is the description of this meeting from Exodus 19. (P)
Exodus 19:16-19 (NIV)
16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain[a] trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.[b]
In spite of this awesome display of power the people weren’t more faithful to God. In fact, they became less faithful, less believing. If only God would rend the heavens and come down to visit this wayward generation with his wrath and force them to believe. This is what many Christians secretly hope for. That God would reveal himself in some undeniable way and validate their faith and prove to those who oppose them the error of their ways.
But it doesn’t work like that. No one is bullied into a relationship with God.
The Isaiah reading starts with God’s awesome power and moves to his awesome character and especially the way he-unique among all so-called gods- acts on behalf of those who wait for him. Again, he draws from the experience of the wilderness generation who knew God to be their provider. Manna each day from heaven; water from the rock; quail from the dessert; clothes that didn’t wear out and enemies that couldn’t defeat them. Here is a God who is actively involved among his people, caring, leading and providing for them.
But an age-old problem persists; we continue to sin against God. How can we be saved? He asks. What hope is there for us? “No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you” (v7). This sounds a lot like our own times which are characterized by spiritual apathy and unbelief. Long gone are the days when churches were packed on Sunday mornings and most people had some understanding of the basic gospel message.
Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down.
Now if you have any theological awareness you may have spotted the reason why this reading is placed in the Advent season. Any guesses? That’s right- it points forward to the great event of God indeed rending the heavens and coming down but not as Isaiah expected, with cloud and fire and earthquake, but in the absolute opposite way of a powerless, vulnerable baby. It’s no wonder many struggled to believe him, this carpenter’s son claiming to be God’s son! (P)
Yet you, Lord, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand. (v8)
The stunning thing about this is that God the potter, in Christ, has become the clay! Isaiah asked “How then can we be saved?” This is how. By believing in the one sent from heaven to live and die and rise for us. In this is our greatest hope.
This reading sparks a question in me; does God seem far away? Remote? Distant and uninvolved in our lives? He came in Christ 2000 years ago but does he still come and demonstrate his love and power? I believe so. Not usually in fire and earthquake and drama but in quiet, less visible ways. Scripture tells us that we live by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). It is by faith that we see God at work and without faith we only see coincidence and random events. By faith we see the invisible hand of God at work in our lives and in our world.
(P) I saw God moving at our community BBQ last Sunday. He moved on a number of you here today who felt compelled to be there, to reach out to our neighbours and to present a friendly face of the church. I saw God moving as he drew people to that event, especially families, who engaged in conversation about their community and our place in it. I see God at work in one of our Rhythm kids mums who is so keen to be involved and to help out any way she can. She is what missiologist call a ‘person of peace’.
As we enter this advent season, looking forward to once again celebrating the good news of a Saviour born for us, may we have eyes of faith that see each day how God has rent the heavens and come down among us. May we live as the people who have the greatest hope of all.
Amen
