Isaiah 64:1-9 "God Has A Big Surprise For You"

We have a rule in our house that you can’t start asking for what you want for your birthday until after the person whose birthday comes before yours has happened. That works for us because our birthdays are somewhat evenly spread out through the year. Whoever our son, Angel, marries and when we eventually have grandchildren is probably going to complicate things unless they’re born January through March. 

Jesus is the only family member in our house who has a birthday in December. I know December birthday people can be touchy about combining their birthday and Christmas gifts. I wonder how Jesus feels about His birthday landing right on Christmas day? Maybe that’s why He made the rule for people to give each other presents on His birthday instead. 

People always say the greatest Christmas gift was God giving Jesus to save us. I can certainly get behind that. Since it’s Advent, maybe we could put together a wishlist for the things we’d like to see when Jesus comes back. 

I have some ideas for stocking stuffers—little fun gifts to get the end times resurrection heaven party started. Like, I don’t know what the afterlife dental plan looks like but I think it would be great if we had a third set of teeth that came in when we’re about fifty—I love the idea of grandparents and grandchildren having wiggly teeth and gap-tooth smiles at the same time. Also, earlids. I hope my resurrected body has earlids—like eyelids only for my ears. So, I can turn the volume down by squinting my ears or create silence by completely shutting them. I also have some ideas about being able to eat and drink as much as I want without getting fat but I don’t want to be greedy.

Our daughter, Von, has the last birthday before Christmas so that’s the signal for when everyone can start hinting about what they want for Jesus’ birthday. We have a lot of fun giving gifts at Christmas, we encourage going all out—I know some people think, “the greedy gift grab ruins everything! Corporate commercialization! Bah humbug! They’re like, when I was a kid, I was happy to get a boiled potato in my sock—and it wasn’t even a Christmas sock! Then I had to wear a wet sock the rest of the day.”

How many times does a person have to watch The Grinch or Scrooge before they realize they have some Ebaneazer level issues with the ghosts of Christmas?

This is the season of Advent—a season of reflection and anticipation waiting for Christ. Waiting to celebrate Him coming as a baby on the first Christmas, and a season of repentance and preparation for Him to come again. Advent is all about the arrival of Christ. And I love how trippy it is—the way it has timelines layered on top of each other. The Old Testament people waiting for the arrival of the Messiah. New Testament people waiting to celebrate Christmas and at the same time waiting for the arrival of Christ the King at the end of time. It’s a lot to get your head around.

At the time of that first Christmas, when the angel showed up at Mary’s door and told her she was going to give birth to Jesus—the people of God had been waiting for the arrival of the Messiah for a long time. And they had some very specific ideas about what they expected it to be like. They had quite the wishlist but when the gift arrived, it wasn’t what they were expecting. They wanted peace and for things to be good but they didn’t see that baby in the manger coming. They wanted their enemies to be defeated but they certainly didn’t think that was going to involve a cross. They wanted the promised King to retake the throne but they couldn’t even comprehend the kingdom of God the way Jesus described it. They had a pretty long Christmas wishlist, they had been begging God for these things year after year for generations—but when they sat on God's lap and told Him what they wanted, He pretty much told them, “You’ll shoot your eye out!”

Isaiah gets to the heart of what they were asking for, he wrote this list about 700 years before Jesus showed up. Isaiah 64, starting with… 

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. Isaiah 64:1-3

A couple hundred years after Isaiah wrote this, Israel was attacked and taken into exile by the Babylonians. His prophecies have some amazing detail about everything Babylon did and details about Persia before it even existed—but Isaiah was always looking even further down the road of history, he saw so many glimpses of Christ. From the virgin birth to the second coming. It’s kind of like how Advent is more than one timeline—His prophecies see Jesus as a baby in Bethlehem, as a man on a cross, and as a returning Savior at the end of time. 

So, this very frustrated prayer, for people in the future, applies to the exiles in Babylon, the captives of Persia, the Jews at the time of Rome, and Christians ever since, like us, who find ourselves surrounded by oppressive hostility to our faith in Jesus. When God’s people are at odds with the culture that surrounds them, when the laws of the land don’t reflect the Law of God—this is definitely the kind of prayers that can happen.

Don’t you ever think, “Good grief, Lord! Can’t you see what’s going on down here? The way people are acting? Do you get MSNBC in heaven? Do You see the way they mock Your name and Your people? The way nobody has any common sense! There’s no decency! People have no shame. They’re ruining everything. Why don’t You come down here and set them straight?!”

We pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done!” Sooner than later, please!”

Isaiah seems to be remembering the Exodus from Egypt and the plagues, “Can you do that again God? Not so much the frogs but, you know, something that would really get all those foolish, wicked people’s attention! They could use a good smiting!”

He also seems to be recalling when God gave the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, with the mountain all aflame and the earth shaking, thunder and lightning—God sure had everyone’s attention then.

So, “Rend the heavens.” Just rip open the heavens in Your anger and come down here like—well, like God. Shake the earth. Burn it all down! Like a blazing fire licks up tiny twigs. Show up with so much flaming power that all the water instantly starts to boil! The heathens wouldn’t be able to ignore that! All Your enemies would be cowering on the ground!” That’s what we want for Christmas! Come down here and make everything right. Let them know who’s boss.

That would be awesome.

Then all those pagans would see You for who You really are and live like believers. Like we do. 

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. Isaiah 64:4-5

They all need to be like us. All of us who love You and serve You. All of us who are faithfully waiting for You. People who remember Your ways, Your laws, Your wisdom. People who joyfully work righteousness. Destroy our enemies because they’re not good like us. They’re not wise like us. They don’t have the right opinions on things. They don’t worship like we do, they don’t pray like we do, they don’t read their freakin’ Bibles like we do. Come on, God! Smash ‘em like bugs! 

That pretty much sounds like the prayers of God’s people before Jesus showed up. Murder those Babylonians! Crush the Persians! Massacre the Greeks! Overthrow the Romans!

It sounds a lot like too many Christians these days, too. 

But the Messiah didn’t show up the way they expected. They weren’t looking for a helpless baby, or a gentle healer who told stories about the kingdom of God. Jesus was quite the surprise. I think we’ll be just as surprised next time, too. St Paul quotes this Isaiah verse to talk about what God has planned for us when Jesus returns. In 1st Corinthians 2:9, he says,

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor has entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

In other words, Isaiah warned them that God is going to surprise them when the Messiah comes. It was certainly true the first time and we can be sure it will be true next time, too. Our job is to keep waiting—and keep doing what we’re supposed to be doing while we wait.

So, the text starts with a big, bold prayer for God to tear apart the heavens and come down to earth and smite the wicked! But then it takes a very interesting turn.

Ever been in the middle of saying something, maybe a prayer, maybe just talking, and suddenly you realize you’re out of line? Reality comes crashing in and slaps you upside the head?

Like, maybe you’re mad at someone because they haven’t answered your text and you notice you forgot to send yours in the first place? Or, some situation where you’re pretty sure you’re in the right until all of a sudden you realize you’re not. One time some guy called my phone and thought it was his girlfriend’s number—I answer and he’s like, “Who the heck are you and why are you answering Monica’s phone?” He was so rude, I decided to play along, “Look, man. She doesn’t want to talk to you.” I hung up and he kept calling back. I kept it going and he was losing his mind. I finally told him he had the wrong number and I was just messing with him. He didn’t think it was as funny as I did. Another time I was traveling up north and got to the airport early, so I went to my gate, put on headphones and sat there merrily doing some work. About fifteen minutes before my flight was supposed to take off, I noticed there still wasn’t anyone else there. I asked the person behind the counter and they told me the gate for my flight had changed—I had to sprint all the way to the other side of the airport and barely got on the plane before it took off. 

Sometimes we get so locked in on an idea that we can’t see what’s really happening or how we’ve misunderstood the situation.

I see so many Christians these days who are just sure they have the moral high ground in all the culture wars—and in some ways they do—but the way they treat people, the way they talk about all the important social issues of our day—they blow it. They might understand some aspects of the truth, of God’s Law, His wisdom, the way He created things to be—but they don’t seem to get the most important things. Humility. Kindness. Speaking the truth in love—meaning, gently, so they don’t drive people away from Jesus. They seem to think there’s room for an attitude of, “I might not be perfect but at least I’m better than those other people.” Whoever those “other” people are, depending on whatever the headlines are on whatever day. But there’s not room for that in the kingdom of God. Never has been.

This Isaiah passage is interesting because it takes a really hard turn at verse five. All of a sudden the prayer turns away from their enemies and becomes about their own sin… 

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. Isaiah 64:5-7

Behold! Whenever we see the word “behold,” we know something amazing is about to happen. Like, “Stop what you’re doing and look at this.” God is about to show us something.

They were praying that God would open the heavens and come down here to destroy the wicked. Make the bad guys tremble. Show them who God is! And then, “Behold!” All of a sudden he realizes, “I’m a bad guy, too.” God is indeed angry at sinners—and we all sin. We’ve been sinning for a long time. If God comes down here to smite and destroy sinners—who’s not going to be destroyed? Who’s can be saved? Maybe this prayer wasn’t such a good idea after all.

We’ve all become unclean because of sin. In God’s sight, we’re all gross and disgusting. 

That’s what unclean means. It’s like this… 

We all have spit in our mouths—which is good. We wouldn’t survive without it. But if I told you to fill up a cup with your own spit and then asked you to drink it—not many would be able to do it without gagging. Spit and other bodily fluids become unclean once they leave our body. In the same way, our sin separates us from God and makes us gross.

Our sin makes us unclean. All our righteous deeds—the best we can do—it’s like a polluted garment—filthy rags. Our translations clean up what Isaiah really said here. Let’s just say feminine hygiene products have come a long way.

Behold! We shouldn’t be so quick to think we’re better than all those unwashed sinners we like to badmouth. Do they sin? Sure. But so do we. The images he uses are striking: We all fade like a leaf, and our sin blows us away like the wind. 

Because of our sin, God has hidden His face from us. He won’t even look at us. He started off praying for God to return like a blazing fire, now he realizes if He did, we’d melt in the hand of our iniquities. Our sin.

The point, and it was a point made 700 years before Jesus was born, is that we don’t really want God to come in His raw glory and power to destroy the wicked. We’d be destroyed right along with them.

Thank God this passage takes another turn. Behold… 

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. Isaiah 64:8-9

Lookie there: Our Father who art in heaven—right there in the Old Testament. Behold! We are Your people! 

This is an amazing turnaround. All of a sudden, we’re His beloved children. Isaiah is seeing something that doesn’t truly happen until Christ becomes our brother and shares His Father with us—shares His Father with you. When Jesus comes into the world to save you from your sin. So when you fade like a leaf, you won’t be blown away by the wind. Though your sins are as red as scarlet, He’ll make you as white as snow. They will no longer stain you. Jesus will take all the heat for you, all that raw power and glory of God’s holy presence, so you won’t melt. He will die in your place with your disgusting unclean sin all over Him. Then He’ll come back from the dead, glorified and exalted, to offer you the promise of everlasting life and resurrection, too. 

Psalm 40 talks about God lifting a man out of the miry clay. The One who was lifted out of the miry clay, lifted out of the pit of death and destruction for all of us is Jesus. The rest of us are the clay. God scoops up a big handful of miry clay and makes something beautiful out of it—just like when He created the first man, Adam, from clay, He recreates you and me. God the potter molds us and shapes us into what He wants us to be. Something useful to Him. Something He will cherish. Psalm 40 is a cry for God to come quickly, to not delay—it’s a prayer of hopeful waiting for God to save us. 

Advent is a season of waiting for the arrival of Jesus. Waiting for Christmas Day to celebrate the arrival of Jesus as a baby in a manger—something no one saw coming. It’s also a season of repentance and preparing our hearts to continue waiting for the arrival of Jesus at the end of time. The world is a mess and it’s understandable to be frustrated with everything that’s wrong—everything we want God to make right. But we need to live in a state of constant humility, daily repentance. Remembering that our true enemies are the world, the flesh, and the devil. Not other people. While we’re waiting, we’re not supposed to hate anyone, we’re supposed to pray for them and love them. While we wait, we need to remember what Jesus called us out of the world to do.

He told us to keep doing the work that He started. The work of the kingdom He brought when He came the first time. We’re supposed to go around making the world, wherever we are, a little more like heaven. On earth as it is in heaven. 

This passage has a very interesting movement to it: It starts with a prayer for God to come down here and destroy our enemies, then behold, we realize we would also be destroyed because we are also sinners, then it ends in a surprising glimpse of Jesus—Behold! The divine Son of God who did come down here but instead of destroying all the sinners, He saved them. He saved us. He didn’t show up angry, instead He made it so our sins wouldn’t be remembered any more.

The Advent season leading up to Christmas is a good reminder of all these things. Life isn’t supposed to be a greedy gift grab. So, while we wait, we have time to think about that wish list of things we’d like to see made right in the world. Things far more important than earlids.

No more war, no more cancer, no more hunger or pain or sorrow or loneliness or violence or hatred—no more death. That’d be a good start but I’m confident that God has a much bigger imagination for where this is all going than I do. 

““Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor has entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9

For now, we wait, hopeful and confident that we have something worth waiting for. AMEN.