Isaiah 64:1 says, Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, Isaiah said the people of Israel were calling on God to appear in a miraculous way and restore them to power. He did appear in a miraculous way when Jesus Christ came to live, die, and be resurrected to make forgiveness of our sins available, but it wasn’t the way they were looking for God to restore them. He didn’t melt mountains by His power, but He came as a humble servant. We should not expect God to physically destroy all our enemies by a mighty display of power until Jesus Christ returns. Instead, we should be humble servants of God reaching out to the lost world with His gospel.
Verse two adds, 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! Isaiah said that if God melted the mountains and caused the water to boil that their adversaries would then know the presence of God and tremble in His presence. This is likely true, but they wouldn’t be obeying Him out of belief in Who He is, a God of love and compassion, but out of fear. I don’t believe we should ever accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord because simply because we fear what will happen to us if we don’t. We should accept His gift of salvation because we know that He loves and wants to restore us to a right relationship with Him.
Verse three continues, When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. Isaiah said the people of Israel were calling on God to remember when He had come in power before, particularly when He delivered them out of Egypt. Still, this was done not because the people of Egypt were less worthy of God’s redemption but because they refused to obey His command to them. When Jesus Christ returns in judgment, those who are sent way to everlasting punishment will not be sent away because they are less worthy than those who He calls home with Him, but because they have refused to put their faith in Him. The thing that God did in the past that we as Christians should look back on is His sending His only begotten Son to die in our place.
Verse four states, 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 said that by their own ability people had never completely understood Who God is and the way that He works in the world. We do not come to know Who God is by our own reasoning power but by God revealing Himself to us if we come to Him in repentance and faith. Even then, we cannot completely understand God. We just have to wait by faith for the time when we will be called to our heavenly home, and even then, I don’t think we will ever know everything about God.
Verse five adds, Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved. Isaiah said that God met those who rejoiced in the Lord and obeyed His commandments. This does not mean that we can become acceptable to God by our own righteousness, but that we meet Him through accepting the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It is by His righteousness that we can be saved, since as Isaiah pointed out, we are all guilty of iniquity, or sin, and sin separates us God. Only when we confess our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord can we be saved.
Verse six continues, 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. Isaiah continued to state the fact that all were spiritually unclean because of the sin in their lives and that their righteousness was as filthy rags. By their own righteousness, they would fade away as a leaf fades away in the fall and winter. This still applies to us today. Our righteousness is still as filthy rags, and if we rely on it for salvation, we will one day fade away from the presence of God to go to everlasting punishment in hell.
Verse seven concludes, 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. Isaiah said that there was no one that God had not revealed Himself to and that those who believed in Him and accepted His gift of salvation would be saved. On the other hand, those who didn’t but continued to live in sin, or disobedience to God, would face God’s punishment one day. These are the only two choices.
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