Isaiah 64:1-9
Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence—
as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.
You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.
But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
Be not so terribly angry, O Lord,
and remember not iniquity forever.
Behold, please look, we are all your people.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Old Testament reading for Sunday, December 3 2023, is from Isaiah chapter 64. verses one through nine. Oh, that you would render the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence, as when fire kindles, brushwood, and the fire causes water to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence. When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down the mountains quaked at your presence. For of old, no one has heard or perceived by the ear. No, I have seen a God besides You, who acts for those who wait for him. You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned in our sins. We have been a long time and shall we be saved. We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind take us away. There is no one who calls upon Your name who rouses himself to take hold of you. For you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities. But now, oh, Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, and you are our Potter. We are all the work of your hand. Be not so terribly angry, oh, Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please, look, we are all your people. Here ends the reading. This Old Testament reading is the beginning of the season of Advent. December 3 Is that first Sunday in Advent season. And so we're talking about God coming down. And this passage begins with God coming down with a mighty power. Oh, that you would render the heavens tear open the heavens and come down. It mentions earthquakes and fire fire so bad that it causes water to boil with the result that God would be made known to his adversaries and that the nations might tremble at his presence. Now, as we we Christians think about that, we think Wait, wait, wait, wait a second, we don't have adversaries. But we remember, in Isaiah stay, God's people was a nation. They had spears and swords and armies, they had borders, they had defenses, they had all sorts of things. And the enemies were the people who attacked that nation. We do not have physical enemies like that there are no borders, there are no spears, the people of God do not have swords to defend our territory. We do have enemies, though. They are the spiritual forces and the powers of this world. And there are times when even human beings become enemies of the church when they persecute us when they kill us when they do all sorts of terrible things to us. And so that still happens. We continue on, though talking about the power of God, from an old no one has heard or perceived by the ear. No, I have seen a God besides you who acts for those who wait for him. This is a fascinating look at the Christian hope in our God is that God acts for people who wait and trust in His salvation. There's quite a bit of Old Testament language about being still and know that I am God, that be still and wait for his salvation. And God does things. Without us. He saves us. And so he did that throughout the Old Testament. He did that with Abraham when he came to him and chose him out of all the peoples. He did that with Moses when he chose him as he was out tending the flock and the fiery Bush. He did it with Israel, when they were all pagan worshipers in the land of Egypt. And he called them out and made them a people. And he does did that over and over. You can think of Gideon, who was just hiding until God made him a mighty warrior and a leader of men. You can think of David who was just a shepherd when God chose him and anointed him as a king. But I think most of all, we don't see that what we see is that Jesus came down when no one was looking for him. We had no conception that God Himself would come down in human form and and enter into the city of Jerusalem riding on a donkey to be tried, betrayed and crucified for us. No, I had seen no ear has heard a God who does this sort of thing. Now, the reading then makes us shift as we consider what it means that God comes down and wrens the heavens and does stuff, we start to go. But that's not always good for us, right? Behold, you are angry and we sinned in our sins, we have been a long time shall we be saved? Isaiah was pointing to the sin of the people in ancient Israel specifically, you know, these people around his time, were were worshipping false gods, they were trusting in a Syria to save them, and all sorts of terrible things were going on. Which meant that if God were to rend the heavens and come down, it would be in judgment and not in peace. God would not come down and defend his people, God would come down and send the Babylonians in to take them over, destroying both the Assyrians and the people of Israel. And I think we can learn from that as well. Just like when we consider our own sins, we are unworthy. And as it says, we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment, even our righteousness. And so if God were to come down in his judgment and his power, and we were to stand before him, without Christ, we would be crushed just like everyone else. But God does not do that. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to be crushed for us to take the punishment we deserve on the cross that we might have the reward that he deserves. And so it goes towards the end. And it gives a note of hope, and trust. But now, oh, Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, and you are our Potter. We are all the work of your hand. Be not so terribly angry, oh, Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people. It calls on God to remember his promises. First of all, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the Old Testament promises, but then all of those promises more gloriously fulfilled for the church, through Jesus Christ. We remind God, we are your people. You've given us a promise through your Son, Jesus Christ. When we were baptized, we joined in with him to become one with Jesus, which means we are truly your people. God, remember your promises and don't look at our sins. And he always promises to do so. That's all I have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai