Isaiah 64 vs 1-12

Isaiah 64 Verse 1

·    We know that what Isaiah is prophesying about is the Second Coming of Christ and not the rapture because he says here, “Rend the heavens, and come down.” The rapture of the church, described for us in detail by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord.”

·    This is a coming of Christ but this is a coming of Christ “in the clouds,” “in the air,” for the church. For those that have become participants in the judgement of sin by the blood of Jesus Christ…, those that have received already their judgement through the Person of Jesus, before God brings the time of judgement on the earth, in righteousness, (in preservation of His integrity), He removes first that ought not be judged. Why? If He does, if the church were to go through The Great Tribulation, then God contradicts Himself as we read in Romans 8:30, “Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

·    So, the rapture of the church, Jesus comes from heaven but He stops short of coming to the earth as this is His appearance in the clouds to catch-away, to rapture away His bride before the time of The Great Tribulation upon the earth.

·    Now, Isaiah says that the mountains will shake at your presence… Revelation 19 gives a detailed description of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This is at the tail end of the seven-year Great Tribulation. The Great Tribulation takes place in the Book of Revelation from chapters 6 to 19. And then in Chapter 19 we read (verse 11), “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and He who sat on Him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.” (Verse 19) “And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army…”

·    Zechariah 14:3-4 tells us, “Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives (Isaiah speaks of mountains), which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south.”

·    And, Acts 1:9-12, “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet…”

·    When mountains split and move, we call that an earthquake and Isaiah says here that the mountains shake at the presence (or coming/arrival) of the Lord. So, we are confident that Isaiah 64 is giving us additional narrative to the Second Coming of Christ. And in this Isaiah is speaking hope to the nation and to us!

·    Now, want to get chills? There was an article published by Christian Daily on January 19, 2021 that says this, “In an astonishing turn of events, geologists discovered a major fault line composed of multiple fractures under Mount Olives in 1964 when Jordanians tried to build a hotel on the mountain.” Does God need a fault line to accomplish His Word? Not a chance. Is it cool though!? Absolutely!!

Isaiah Chapter 64 Verses 2 – 3

·    In these first three verses there is a repetitious phrase, did you catch it? “At Your presence.” In the Hebrew, its just one word. Interesting, this word is used and translated as “presence” throughout the scriptures 76 times. It is however used and translated as “face” 390 times. Many Christians and Christian songs refer to seeking the face of God and that simply means the presence of God. His perspective, His presence, His leadership…

·    Big things happen in the presence of God, or maybe better said, in His preeminence. When He is the One who is sought, when He is the one that is given the authority through the bending of our own free will. Isaiah says here, “You did awesome things for which we didn’t even look…” Lines up perfectly with what Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think…” Why? How? Simply in the seeking of His presence…

·    One more thing here also. This is a powerful pattern for effective prayer. Isaiah is calling out to God specifically. He’s not just writing prophecy, he is praying. And his prayer includes the mentioning of the Word of God. “The mountains shook at your presence,” is a reference to the shaking of Mount Sanai at the giving of the law (Exodus 19:18). The most effective prayer is simply to know God’s Word and in essence, pray it back to God.

Isaiah Chapter 64 Verses 4 – 5

·    Don’t miss the truths here. God acts for those who wait for Him. Don’t move forward in the moment out of impatience. Commit the thing to God and wait on Him. This is a loaded word. It means to allow a piercing. It means to tie something together as in a knot. It means, essentially, to default to the opposite of self-reliance, self-trust and mindfully turn to the Lord. God acts for you when you do that.

·    Isaiah says, “You meet him who rejoices…” Rejoicing isn’t an emotion to begin with. It’s a command. Philippians 4:4 commands, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice!” Rejoicing is an idea that the desire and focus of your heart of hearts, you choose to make and place as Jesus Christ. THEN, over time, as you transform into His image (Romans 12), then happiness begins to accompany rejoicing… This is where God meets you… I like that… (there is an entire teaching there)…

·    Isaiah says, God meets those who remember God in God’s ways… Get into the Word and let the Word of God get into you and it will be just as Jesus said in John 5:39, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.” The Bible is the only book in all of existence that the Author will show up every time you read it…

Isaiah Chapter 64 Verses 6 - 7

·    A lot of Bible teachers like to shock the crowd with what this phrase actually means in the Hebrew, “filthy rags.” I’ll let you go look it up. It’s far worse than just filthy rags, but the point is that my good works that I do for my own gain or for worldly purposes or even so that I might be applauded by God are rejectamenta to Him! (Spurgeon said, “If that’s our righteousness, if our righteousness is so bad, what must our unrighteousness’s be!?”)

·    We don’t do good things to show ourselves or make ourselves think or others think we are good… Or for the applause of God. We do good works simply because we are saved and a reasonable response to being saved by the grace of God through the blood of Jesus is to do what He wants us to do…

·    My response to what God has done for me is essentially religion. Not because I have to but because there is love in my heart and that love was deposited and secured in me by the grace of God. And so, I don’t take credit for it because before being saved I was lost and knew it! Now I’m saved and I know it! And that reveals this presence of love in my heart of hearts that is not my own!

·    There are a lot of people that do a lot of good things but not out of that motivation. There’s a word that has been coined for that in modern psychology and it’s a religious term. It’s called Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. It’s the religion, the activity of doing good in the world to make yourself believe you are a good person or a good enough person. It’s simply pride with a pretty bow on it…

Isaiah Chapter 64 Verses 8 – 12

·    Isaiah knows the answer. He already wrote of it in the previous chapter. This is simply his conversation with the coming King… Wanting to be reminded of God’s plan… And that’s a good thing. Next chapter, God responds!!