Sermon text of Isaiah 63:7-64:12 November 30, 2008

Isaiah 63:7-64:12 “Rend the Heavens” 11-30-08

The sermon text this morning is Isaiah 63:7 to 64:12 on page 605 of your pew Bible.

Read Text

“I will recount the gracious deeds of the LORD, the praiseworthy acts of the LORD, because of all that the LORD has done for us, and the great favor to the house of Israel that he has shown them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

For he said, "Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely"; and he became their savior in all their distress. It was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

But they rebelled and grieved his holy spirit; therefore he became their enemy; he himself fought against them.

Then they remembered the days of old, of Moses his servant. Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is the one who put within them his holy spirit, who caused his glorious arm to march at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths?

Like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble. Like cattle that go down into the valley, the spirit of the LORD gave them rest. Thus you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.

Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and glorious habitation. Where are your zeal and your might? The yearning of your heart and your compassion? They are withheld from me.

For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our father; our Redeemer from of old is your name.

Why, O LORD, do you make us stray from your ways and harden our heart, so that we do not fear you? Turn back for the sake of your servants, for the sake of the tribes that are your heritage.

Your holy people took possession for a little while; but now our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary. We have long been like those whom you do not rule, like those not called by your name.

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence – as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil – to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him.

You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed. We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity. Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people. Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful house, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins.

After all this, will you restrain yourself, O LORD? Will you keep silent, and punish us so severely?”


This text is a song of communal lament most likely sung at the site of the burned down temple in Jerusalem. The whole community of God gathered in the temple rubble and sang this song of grief, repentance and plea after the Babylonians destroyed their place of worship.

The people of God – the chosen ones of God – have been dealt with harshly and they reel. They beg God for answers.

Where are you God?
Where is your help?
Where is your presence in our time of need?

Even with this in mind, Isaiah begins this song by remembering what God has done by praising him. He recalls the steadfast love of the Lord.

He recalls the very presence of God saving Israel – how He lead the people through the wilderness, parted the Red Sea, and shook the world when Moses brought the 10 Commandments down from Mount Sinai.

Isaiah calls to mind the way God parted the Jordan River for his people to walk into the Promised Land. God gave the people rest and prepared to make the Name of the Lord glorious.

What happened to destroy the peace?

Like rebellious children, the people of God disobeyed their Heavenly Father. Isaiah laments, “We have long been like those whom you do not rule, like those not called by your name.”

This grieves the Holy Spirit of God and makes God the enemy. So God fights against his own people and allows his holy temple to be destroyed.

Even still, Isaiah entreats God, “You’re still our Father. Even though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us, you are our Father.”

Your name is “Redeemer of old.” Unless you show up, we can’t turn from our wicked ways. Unless you soften our hearts, they will remain hardened. You are the potter, we are the clay.

O that you would rend the heavens and come down!

Isaiah sings for God not simply to see them, but to come down. “Break through the domed firmament and the clouds and intervene” (Blenkinsopp, 264). Draw near!

Come down like fire that causes twigs to burn and then makes the pot boil. Come down like an earthquake. Be the God of the unexpected!

For our part, we confess and repent. We have all become like a person unclean and even our good deeds are filthy rags.

Sin has become continual, defiling, destructive, and barrier producing. It has separated the people from God.

Now the people feel like a withered fall leaf blowing in the wind.

Can I reveal the depth of the people’s sin with the danger of grossing you out a little bit? In this section, Isaiah is talking about a woman having her period. He’s saying that the people of God have become unclean and their good deeds resemble a dirty tampon. Instead of white as snow, they are as unclean as a maxi-pad.

Even in this state, Isaiah calls the people to sing, “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.” He leads them in singing, “Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember our sins forever…we are your people… will you restrain yourself, O LORD? Will you keep silent, and punish us so severely?”

The people call on God to draw near to them. “Don’t stand back, God. Don’t be aloof, come near! Have mercy! Speak! Move! Act!”

How do we respond to this song of corporate lament?


It might seem like a strange text for the beginning of Advent, but this season before Christmas is a season of repentance. It’s a mini-Lent on the church calendar. It’s a time for us to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord.

What is our standing with God these days? How near and dear is our God to us? What is the condition of our hearts before God?

Turning from personal sin toward God must be done this Advent, but today, we look at our corporate sins. To prepare our hearts and lives for the coming of Jesus, what do we need to turn from? As a people, what has made even our good deeds filthy rags?

I contemplated these verses while watching Mumbai burn. Over 170 people died at the hands of terrorists. It made me pray, “How long O Lord?! O that you would rend the heavens and come down!”

I turned on the 6 o’clock news to see some coverage and only saw local stories of lost cats, local theft, and a back alley murder.

I know 6 o’clock is the local news time, but are we so apathetic to suffering in the world that we can’t delay local news in the face of an international crisis? If this attack had happened on American soil it would still be leading the news and our trite local news would wait. The terrorists targeted Americans!

Maybe apathy is one of our corporate sins. Maybe we need to repent this advent season for our lack of concern – our lack of love in action for others.

A mere 10 billion dollars would solve the number one killer of people worldwide – unclean or insufficient water. It causes death by disease. It causes death by thirst.
10 billion may sound like a lot of money, but we spend 10 billion every month fighting in Iraq. Why isn’t there the political will in this nation to end the leading cause of death worldwide?

We are loveless and apathetic.

As the video showed, we spend 450 billion dollars celebrating Christmas. If we want God to rend the heavens and come down, maybe we need to get our hearts re-oriented. As we contemplate the humility of Christ, leaving the throne of heaven to come as a baby, maybe we need to humble our hearts and show the same love he did.

Instead of exchanging gifts this Christmas, maybe we should simply give them to those in greatest need. If the politicians won’t spend our tax dollars to help the least of these, maybe we need to spend our money mercifully.

In preparation for Christ’s birth, Jodi and I will be exchanging gifts with family and friends, but this year we will donate an equal amount of money to feeding the hungry and providing clean water for the thirsty.

Will you join me? Will you give an equal amount of money to those with nothing as you do to your friends and family who have everything they need and most of what they want? It might mean giving smaller gifts to your family. But it does mean giving life to the dying.

$10 buys a Christmas card and a paperback novel, but it can also provide clean water to a child for their entire lifetime.

We need to repent of our apathy in preparation for Christmas.

So I’m watching Mumbai burn. Imagine the bitter irony of seeing the next story on my screen. A temporary employee of Wal-Mart unlocked the doors at 4am on Black Friday and didn’t get out of the way fast enough. She was trampled to death.

This wasn’t local news. I read the story on CNN.com while watching the Mumbai coverage.

Even on Saturday morning the story of death by greed was still front page on the BBC news website. The BBC! This news goes global…our greed is famous!

Children living in poverty on the streets of Addis Ababa hear this story. Children living in refugee camps around the world hear this story. Do they joke amongst themselves, “I want to go to a country where the only reason they kill each other is because of a department store sale.”

Or maybe our greed so repels them that they resolve to live differently when they get here. I know immigrants who make minimum wage and can still send large chunks of money to their families living in poverty in their native lands.

More controversially, do foreigners see American greed as part of the reason why some people hate America…part of the reason terrorists target us on the streets of Mumbai.

As a nation we have worshiped the god of wealth and the security and power it brings for too long. The consequences of our greed is not the city lying in ruins and the temple in ashes as it was in Biblical times. So far we just have a mortgage and credit crisis.

We lived on the edge of our means. We mortgaged our houses and re-mortgaged our houses to maximize our capacity to consume never thinking our homes could lose value.

We maxed our credit, never thinking the economy would stall. We spent our resources on ourselves and look where we are.

If we repent and turn from our greed, will God rend the heavens and come down? If we start enjoying what we have and not wanting what we don’t have, will God come near?

Conclusion:

This song of corporate lament can be our song. We can confess our apathy and greed as a people. We can cry out to God for his return. We can pray, “O God as we turn, please draw near!”

O that you would rend the heavens and come down.

Pray