Isaiah 64 vs 6-12
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!
Martin Luther called those that walked in a belief of being saved by
works the “devil’s martyrs.” “They suffer much, they take great pains
to go to hell!” He continued, “We must all do righteousness, rest in
none but Christ’s, disclaiming our own best as spotted and imperfect.”
(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 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…
The end of verse 7 is pre-Jesus and that matters. It matters because it
gives us an idea of our eternal condition prior to Jesus standing in the
place of all men to make things right between us and the Father. Isaiah
says rightly that our sinful condition has demanded the righteous
judgment of God which includes, has to include, His complete
rejection of all of mankind completely!! But we see a change with the
appearing of the promised Messiah.
John Chapter 14:6-7, “Jesus said to him (to Thomas), “I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and
from now on you know Him and have seen Him!”” That stands in
outright contradiction to Isaiah 64 where we are told God has hidden
His face and yet it is not a contradiction but rather a restitution. An
indemnification! It’s a revelation that through Jesus, sin would be and
is forgiven and now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have
been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13).
Isaiah Chapter 64 Verse 8
Isaiah is filled with hope. This is faith in force! He doesn’t run away
from the reality of the current condition. He doesn’t deny or discredit
his own unsolvable problems. He lays them out there and yet he does
so not in condemnation or despair. He does so knowing that God is
who He has said He is and will do what He has said He will do!
It was just last chapter we read in Isaiah 63:1, “Who is this coming
and on His way? I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save!” We
have a tendency to give up in a way and things are so broken or I am
so messed up that I’ve tried to think about it, I’ve even tried to do
something about it…, but here I am…, so I’ll just ignore it. Act like
its not there or it never happened… And the Bible says that creates a
coldness about me… Paul said that will increase even in the last
days… Isaiah won’t do that. By continually taking it before the Lord
and acknowledging his own inability to help or cure himself, it
enriches him!
You are the Potter and we are the clay is a famous quote and thought
but a severely disregarded truth. And because of it, the love of many
has grown cold. Jesus said in Matthew 24:12, “Because lawlessness
will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” Lawlessness is taking
the Word of God as truth and then going and creating your own… And
check this out, it makes sense that folks would become cold and hard
hearted…,
You know something is true and you know you are contradicting it…,
and so how is it that you at all can respect yourself lest you create a
compartment in your mind and heart so that you are shielded from
reality…?
I’m not at all saying to be perfect and always do what the Bible
says…, what I’m saying is be like the mature Isaiah that hides nothing
FROM HIMSELF but rather places his trust in God and allows the
Holy Spirit the work God desires to do in his heart of hearts!
Isaiah Chapter 64 Verses 9 - 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!!