Isaiah 63 portrays the victorious king’s return to Zion. The prophet asks why the king’s garments are red, as if he had been stomping grapes in a winepress. The Lord replies he has returned from stomping on the nations; it is their blood that is spattered on his garments. “I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing” (v. 3b). The Lord laments, however, because there was no one to help. “I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm achieved salvation for me and my own wrath sustained me” (v. 5).
Isaiah then offers a lengthy prayer (7-19), proclaiming God’s faithfulness to his people. But despite God’s kindness, they rebelled, prompting God to turn against them and become their enemy. “Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them” (v. 10). They had forgotten how God in his love and mercy had redeemed them. “In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them; In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old” (v. 9).
They ask, “….where is he who brought them through the sea, with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he who set his Holy Spirit among them” (v. 11). They cry out to the Lord, “Look down from heaven and see, from your lofty throne, holy and glorious. Where are your zeal and your might?” (v. 15). They ask, “Why, Lord, do you make us wander from your ways, and harden our hearts so we do not revere you?” (v. 17)
Then in heart felt prayer they cry out, “”Oh, that you would rend the heaven and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you” (Is 64:1). The prophet affirms the uniqueness of God in doing “awesome things.” God had shown his favor and faithfulness to his people in the past. But the people had ignored God. “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 our sins”(Is 64:7).
They acknowledge God to be their Father. “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand” (Is 64:8). In intercession, they prayed, “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” (Is. 64:9). When they saw Jerusalem a desolation and all their treasure lying in ruins, they ask God, “After all this, O Lord, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?” (Is. 64:13). God replied, “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me….All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people” (Is. 65:1-2).
But God give this wonderful promise. “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create…” (Is.65:17-8).
In the end God’s plan will prevail among the Hebrew people as well as it will in our day. God will show up and make all things new. This is our hope and certainty in such troubled times as ours. But our hearts need to seek God in repentance.
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