An Edgy Prayer
by Rev. Paul Howden
November 11, 2007
Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity
Isaiah 64

In ancient times it was common to conceive of the sky as an eggshell. The Venerable Bede for example in the 8th Century thought the world egg-like. The earth was the yoke and the sky the shell. If you could climb high enough you would reach the hard layer; you could crack a hole in it and peek at the otherworld. One of those Medieval painters actually depicted a guy doing that. You see him poking his head through and gazing in wonder at angels and other cool things. People similarly speculated that the sky was a sort of garment, or a huge curtain in the stratosphere.

The Prophet Isaiah possibly had in mind this notion when he prayed to God, “Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That you would come down!” Isaiah wanted the Lord to split open the shell of the firmament, to roll back the curtain, rend the garment, and come to earth. Chapter 64 of Isaiah is what we will study on this 23rd Sunday after Trinity. Let’s read Isaiah 64:1-5a.

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 looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. 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. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth;

Why did the prophet long for the Lord to rip open the garment of heaven, and appear to the nations? “To make Your name know to Your adversaries” (v.2). Isaiah desired that the Lord save Israel from her enemies. The prophet prayed that God actually intervene in person.

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.

Isaiah assumes that God rules the entire earth. The enemy nations had a multiplicity of gods. They had a god for the hills, a god for the valleys, a god in charge of the rivers, another governed the forest, another the rain, and another the city. One had to placate a pantheon of deities. Not with Jehovah. The same God who governed Heaven, also governed earth and everything in it. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. With one word He can make the mountains quake, burn up the forests and boil the seas. He can make the nations tremble. Isaiah pleads for Jehovah to open heaven, come down and shake the earth, to quake, burn and boil creation, in a word to bring judgment upon those adversaries intent on destroying the Church. The body of Christ is often threatened from without. And when the threat is severe it is proper for the church to beseech the Lord for protection from bloodthirsty men. He can rescue those who have lost all hope. He extends His hand to those who have fallen to the ground. If you are in a difficult situation, come boldly to the throne of grace. Ask God Almighty to come down and rescue you from danger. Jesus Christ will come to be present with you.  Isaiah 64:5b-7:

for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved. But we are all as an unclean thing, and 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.

Why were God’s people in such a bad situation? Partly they deserved it. They were hopelessly unclean; their righteousness as filthy rags. The Hebrew is graphic here. These rags have to do with menstruation. The people were so immersed in sin that even their best efforts, their finest works of righteousness were no better than the rags of a woman during her monthly period. These garments were regarded ceremonially unclean and filthy. The image brings out the contrast between our righteousness and the righteousness of Christ. Without the garment of Christ’s righteousness, you and I stand before God in rags of unrighteousness. You don’t get into the marriage Banquet of the Lamb with those defiled robes. You need God’s forgiveness. You must be clothed in Christ. Are you today? Believe in Jesus, his death and resurrection on your behalf. Repent of your sin. Clothe yourself in Christ.

Isaiah continues, “We fade as a leaf.” Life is short. We fade fast. Any one of us could die today. This last week a young couple was driving in the state of Washington. It was their one-year wedding anniversary. All of a sudden from out of the air, a cow dropped onto the hood of their car, smashing it. How did a cow drop out of the sky? It wasn’t a tornado. There was a two-hundred-foot cliff above the highway, and somehow the cow slipped over the side and fell, landing on top of the car. It could have hit the roof and killed the two persons. Life is short and uncertain like that. They had to euthanize the cow. The husband and wife came out unscathed. We all fade as a leaf. Life is short and precarious.

The prophet stays with the leaf metaphor. “Our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” During autumn, leaves drop. The wind picks them up and carries them away. They spin around in corners, drifting here and there. Isaiah explains that we are like that. We are leaves driven by the winds of temptation. If you are not in the Word, in prayer, and in worship then you will be more prone to get tossed about as you meet those gusts of temptation. Don’t be swept up by the winds of the world. If you have God’s Word then you have an anchor, you have a compass, and you have a purpose. You are grafted into Christ, the true vine. He is the Tree of life. Stay firm in Him. Don’t be blown about!

for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

Judgment had fallen on the chosen people, and one of the reasons was sin. Quite often the church’s greatest enemies are within. God hides his face from those who commit iniquity; He even hides His face from clergy and laity. The Lord comes to the church as a consuming fire when sin is thick. He melts the dross and purifies the gold.

Isaiah assumes something else: God is sovereign. Look at 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.

“You are our Father.” Isaiah reminds us that we call God Father by grace and by adoption. He is our heavenly Father, Jesus our elder brother, and the Church our mother. God is also the Potter. That means God made you just the way He wanted to. The kids and I went to the State Fair in California and saw two guys making clay pots. They sat before the wheel with their aprons on, dipping their hands in water; with fingers, fists, flat palms, they shaped the spinning clay; pushing here, pressing there. Each pot turned out a bit differently. Which means the potter can keep the pots he wants, and throw away the bad ones. The apostle Paul takes up this potter image in Romans. He refers to predestination and election. We see it in Romans 9:20-23.

Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 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 shew 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 afore prepared unto glory,

God is the Potter, and human beings are clay pots. We are vessels he has made. If you are in Christ, you are a vessel for honor, a vessel of mercy. The Potter prepared you beforehand for glory. Why? Because of the good works you did? No, those works are no better than filthy rags. God has predestined you to glory because of His grace and mercy in Christ. God is the Potter, and He decides. He chose you for eternal life. This same divine Potter has prepared the vessels of wrath for destruction. Some of you recognize this teaching as Reformed, or Calvinistic. Reformed people are the ones who most appreciate and accept passages like these. They teach that some members of humanity are sovereignly rescued and brought to salvation, while others are passed by. God’s power shines brightly for those who can embrace this teaching. 

In terms of the Divine Potter metaphor, the Lord Almighty is a Potter who makes some pots as vessels of honor for salvation, and then makes other pots as vessels of dishonor for destruction. The whole passage brings out God’s sovereign power in salvation, and by extension His reign in all departments of life. This Romans nine passage also reminds us that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament is the same God. A heresy called Manichaeism held that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament were two different deities. The deity of the Old was a Lord of wrath, while the God of the New was a God of love. Some people still harbor Manichaen ideas. Well, God is immutable. St. Paul warned us to consider the goodness and severity of God (Rom. 11:22). God is good. He is love, but He can be severe. This is just as true in the New Testament as it is in the Old, and vice versa. Let’s read Isaiah 64:9-12.

Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. 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. Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

We worship a fearsome Lord who descends to do terrible deeds. In order to save His covenant people, and in order to sanctify His children He performs deeds of terrifying and awesome power. This is no gentle deity of sweetness and light. He is the completely unique Ruler of all. Jesus, the Son of God, controls all things. As Judge He not only determines what He will do, but also does what He has determined.

Verse nine is a plea for mercy. “Do not be furious, O Heavenly Father, Nor remember iniquity forever.” To remember iniquity means to punish it like it deserves. Isaiah admits that the judgment upon the Holy Cities is just, but he nevertheless begs God to be lenient and merciful. “Look… We are your people.” Isaiah reminds the Eternal Father that they are His adopted children. “Punish us like we deserve but don’t be angry. We are your people.” And of course we know that God tempers His wrath toward those He judges, and does not count all their evil deeds against them. Our Father God is merciful to you and me.

How did God judge Israel? He did it through the enemy nations. The Babylonians attacked and God allowed it. Isaiah lifts his cry from under the rubble, “Your holy cities have become a desert, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation, the temple is burned up with fire.” The armies of Babylon had invaded, laying siege to the land. The destruction began with the outlying cities, the military juggernaut advanced next to Zion, battered Jerusalem, and then wiped out the temple itself. The enemy flattened the walls and burned up the wood. There was not a pleasant thing left. What a desperate situation!

This scene repeats itself throughout history. One example: much of England during the fourth and fifth centuries had become Christian under the Roman Empire. Then the Saxons invaded. Of all the Germanic tribes, the Saxons were the cruelest. The British soldiers tried to defend the Isles from these marauders, but it was futile. The Saxons conquered. Winston Churchill, in his History of the English-Speaking Peoples described it like this: “Night had fallen on Britannia. Dawn rose on England, humble, poor, barbarous, degraded and divided, but alive. England was once again a barbarian island. It had been Christian, it was now heathen. Its inhabitants had rejoiced in well-planned cities, with temples, markets, academies. They had nourished craftsmen and merchants, professors of literature and rhetoric. For four hundred years there had been order and law, respect for property, and a widening culture. All had vanished. The buildings, such as they were, were of wood, not stone. The people had lost entirely the art of writing…” [p. 55.] That is primitivism and bleakness on a grand scale.

Civilizations fall. America could fall. Twenty years ago, Allan Bloom wrote a book called The Closing of the American Mind. He made the point that America has an amazing history, not perfect, but exceptionally good in many ways. And what is the result of four centuries of hard work, godliness, and sacrifice? Bloom says: “Picture a thirteen-year-old sitting in the living room doing his math assignment while wearing earphones that hammer out grunge rock, and at the same time watching MTV.” [A paraphrase.] That is what we have come to? MTV is horrid. Not to mention the glorification of gay sex, bestiality, incest, foul language, shocking violence, and sadistic laughter. The point is this; there are good reasons for God to come down and judge our country. One can easily get lulled into the impression that tomorrow will be like today, and the next day just like yesterday, and so on without any great interruption. But God is a Father who chastens those He loves. Remember what Hebrews says. Let’s read that. Hebrews 12:7-11.

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

This word chasten means spank. God the Father lovingly gives His children a licking. He smacks us around so that we grow in holiness. Hence, one day you may wake up and find every precious thing you possess is destroyed, everything you love is lost. It happened to Job. It happened to Great Britain in the Sixth Century. Over a thousand families lost their homes in the recent wildfires of California. Radical changes occur. Terrible things happen. At such a time a prayer like Isaiah’s would be appropriate. The last verses of Isaiah 64 are basically a prayer: “O Lord, You are my Father; Have mercy. I am the clay, and You the potter; I am the work of Your hand. Do not be furious, O Lord, Nor remember iniquity forever; Indeed, please look – I am Your child! Bring me your peace. Do not afflict me very severely.” Amen. That is an edgy prayer.

Richard Wurmbrand spent 14 years in solitary confinement. His Communist torturers tried to break his faith. While there he composed prayers and sermons. In one of those Richard Wurmbrand said, “No, I will not deny God. My mind does not know who he is or where he is. When I was strung up by my arms with my toes barely reaching the floor, and under other similar tortures, I had no evidence that he exists. I was inclined to accuse him as St. Theresa, the great Christian mystic, dared to accuse him before me: 'O Lord, no wonder you have so few friends when you treat them so hard.' But I believe in the incomprehensible and terrible one. I believe that he is love, although at this moment I feel nothing of his love. I have to believe in its expression in a sacrifice two thousand years ago. I will not leave him, nor deny him, even if he leaves me.”

When you find yourself in a desperate circumstance, and everything seems hopeless, and God seems absent, then an edgy prayer can be appropriate.

In baptism God adopted you in Jesus Christ; He became your Father. If you are His child, nothing can wipe out your adoption; not your sinfulness, not your lack of faith, nor your defeat by the enemy. God is the Potter who loves you and redeemed you. Nothing can separate you from His love. No matter what your situation, you can pray to the Lord to save you just as He saved you when you were made His child by faith. Appeal to God’s acts in Jesus Christ to help you in the desperate moments.

Our God is on the throne, and His kingdom will prevail. If tragedy befalls you remember your adoption, cling to the Lord in prayer, hold on to the promises of God’s Word, and the hope of Heaven. Try to find good in the judgment that afflicts you. Remain faithful to God through thick and thin. And pray that His judgments serve to deepen your faith.