Isaiah 64 PRAYER FOR GOD’S HELP CONTINUES The words of this chapter are a continuation of those in the last part of the previous chapter. Isaiah as a representative of Israel, pleads for the Lord to step in and force the world to submit to His holiness and supreme authority as the Sovereign of the universe. The words are like the cry of a person in anguish of soul and physical pain at the same time. It is a desperate cry for God to come down in mighty power and deliver His people. In the words of the first verses, he refers to the way God came down in Israel’s past to Mt. Sinai, and the effect it had on the Israelites who trembled in fear at the evidence of God’s presence.
It is when this is a reality in a troubled soul, that our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed as the Savior. The troubled soul has faced their own sin and acknowledge their own guilt before God. There are no more comparisons with other people, and no protestations of innocence or personal worth, that would make God obligated to save them. In contrast, there is real repentance for sin on the part of the penitent sinner, and it is then the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to them as their personal Savior and God saves them.
It is hard for people to admit to their own unworthiness of any of God mercies toward them. We are helpless in ourselves to deal with our sin problem that separates us from God. We don’t have either the right or the ability to grasp what it is to put faith in our Lord Jesus. It is the entrance of God’s word into the soul that gives light to the darkness of a troubled soul, and then it is the Holy Spirit of God that gives the light of life. “By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”
In the words of the prophecy in this passage, those who are righteous on earth are astounded and grieved at the contempt people in general have for God. Those who know the Lord recognize their responsibility to obey and love the Lord if the Lord is going to answer their prayer for the nation. They also admit that Israel, and mankind in general, pretend to be righteous, but their righteousness is as “filthy rags.” People are self-seeking instead of seeking for the Lord.
Those in Israel who know they are guilty as a people of forsaking and rejecting the Lord, make their plea for divine intervention on the promise of God to their forefathers and to the nation as His chosen people. The remnant of Judah took the position of real confession of sin, self-judgment and true repentance before God. They know there is no reason for God to help them. They have no righteousness. There has been no faithfulness to God and they have no merit of their own to recommend them as worthy of help or deliverance.
It is the same for individuals today, as it will be for Israel in the future or as it was for them in the past. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy.” There is absolutely no way to justify sin. There is no way for sin to be covered up as if it is not serious. Honest confession from the heart for sin and the fairness of judgment for sin is the only way to find the mercy we need. Then the exceeding riches of God’s grace will bring a clarity of understanding as to what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. It was there He was “made sin for us” so that we could be made righteous and acceptable before God.
As Isaiah prophesied, the land of Judah became desolate and the temple was burned with fire. It wouldn’t be until the days of Nehemiah that the walls of Jerusalem would be rebuilt and the city become a safe habitation. The remnant of people in that past day, asked God to look upon the scenes of devastation, and have pity on them. Would He please show compassion for them, not because of who they were but because of who He is?