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Isaiah 64:1-64:12
Just recently in Texas I was driving my family back to Melissa’s Parent’s home from Dallas when all of a sudden a car full of teenagers passed us on our right easily driving 90 mph. Okay, your probably thinking to yourself, “Big Deal” New Jersey drivers are the king of speeders, especially on route 17. But what made this particular speeding moment memorable is that the kids passed me on my right by driving on the shoulder. Needless to say the first words out of my mouth were not kind, they never are kind when it comes to people who drive recklessly on the road so we won’t go into what I said at first, but I will share with you what I said next. I said, “Where are the police when you need them?” Now here is a phrase that I am sure you have voiced yourselves from time to time. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see the people that care nothing about the other drivers on the road, get caught red handed time and time again? Justice! That’s what I want! Justice!
Justice for what you ask? Those speeding kids did not hurt us in any way so I have no reason to own a spirit of revenge but what really bothers me is what COULD HAVE HAPPENED! Those kids COULD HAVE created an accident and we COULD HAVE been involved in that accident. I think to myself that if the police were around, those kids COULD HAVE been stopped and COULD HAVE ALSO learned a valuable lesson and thus never drive carelessly again.
Talking about what COULD HAVE happened doesn’t really change anything except that it gives voice to our feelings. So whenever you see me driving on the road with a scowl on my face you can just say to yourself, with a smile on your face, “Oh yes, Pastor Doug must be thinking about what COULD HAVE HAPPENED again!”
Isaiah is another one who cries out for JUSTICE and whom concerns himself with WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED only instead of longing for the police to show up, Isaiah wants God to do some quaking on this world by way of His Almighty Power and Presence. Listen to how Isaiah begins his prayer. He says, “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence.” It appears that Isaiah is well aware the effect God has on His people. He knows what COULD HAPPEN when His people see God. They are not apt to turn against Him or remain unaffected by His presence. They are more likely to abide by His Will.
There is an Allstate commercial presently airing that basically says, ‘just as soon as you see the police car, you become a careful and safe driver. You go the speed limit. You obey all traffic laws.’ The presence of a police car is a sure bet that every driver on the road will become a careful and safe driver. Take the police car away and you end up seeing kids driving on the shoulder of the highway at over 90 miles per hour. If the police can change a person’s bad activity just by being seen, then imagine the effect God would have on His people if He made Himself known in a physical way?
WHAT COULD HAPPEN if God appeared as a pillar of fire before hundreds of thousands of people? Do you think all those people would stop, take notice and quite frankly repent right then and there? Here is another scenario. Imagine if you were in the midst of hundreds of atheists, you were the only Christian and you were being given the opportunity to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Wouldn’t it be great if while talking about the presence of Almighty God, Jesus dropped down in the middle of your lecture in full bodily form to offer physical proof of His existence? How many of those atheists would suddenly convert?
In a way Isaiah duplicates that last scenario as he surrounds himself with people that seemingly no longer believe in God. He has tried to get their attention and now wonders if there is really any chance of salvation available. In verse five he asks, “Shall we be saved?” If you were in his situation wouldn’t you pray for all those unbelievers to see an example of the Almighty’s Power? Wouldn’t you like to see such people humbled so that as a result of God’s Will, they would be moved to believe and repent? And in our day, WHAT COULD HAPPEN to the mindset of all the people that reject Jesus Christ if God once more manifested His Holy Presence in the form of a huge pillar of fire?
When Isaiah said, “As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil” he was conveying the truth that just as fire would cause water to boil, so too will the presence of Almighty God cause an instantaneous effect. That’s what Isaiah wanted. I dare say you might have also prayed that God would just show His hand to the world right now, because in truth this world needs an instantaneous effect of God’s Power.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting God to wake everyone up from their slumber of sinful and prideful living. There is nothing wrong with longing for God to do one of those really big and widely seen miracles of the Bible, like parting the sea or coming down in a pillar of fire. With all the technology around today, such miracles would eventually be seen by the entire world and experts would surly not have a problem supporting the authenticity of whatever God would do to get our attention. Desiring God’s Mighty intervention proves that you want others to know that God is real!
Isaiah knew that if God made Himself known physically, the nations would tremble at the sight of His presence. It seems as if Isaiah had a little vengeful spirit within him too in that he hoped for some trembling to go on in their lives. But what Isaiah really wanted was for his people to once again call upon God’s name after being reminded that God indeed was with them.
Right now however, the sin of worldly living was destroying Isaiah’s people from the inside out. Isaiah says, “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like filthy garments.” Without God’s presence to remind his people that there truly is only One God, without God here before his people, God’s people would begin to slide back to unrighteous living. They would lean on their own understanding, their own intellect and wisdom to meet their needs. Isaiah knew this would happen and it did happen. It got so bad that Isaiah said, “There is (now) no one who calls on Your Name (Oh Lord).” And there is ‘(no one) who arouses himself to take hold of God’. In other words, his people are lost.
So why doesn’t God do something? Why doesn’t He just come on down, say a few words, part the ocean and leave it at that? Why doesn’t God prove to this world in a physical way that he does exist, and that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and that there is a heaven and a hell and sin does kill eternally? After all God has done it before! So why won’t He do it again?
I think the fact that God HAS done it before is the reason why He won’t do it again. God could come down here and do some major things to get the world’s attention but it really would be a redundant effort. Our Lord has given us everything we need to own faith in Him. God has already come down to this world in human form, lived among us and took upon Himself the sin of the entire world. If the only way people will believe in God’s presence is by demanding God to perform a few miracles for proof, then their foundation will be anything but one of faith. If no one can believe in God through the hearing of this Holy Word (show bible) then nothing else will get them to come around. Not even a pillar of fire. Oh sure, God would get our attention, many might even convert or repent but eventually most would backslide, just like the Israelites did as soon as God went out of their sight.
I guess if our Almighty Father felt that showing up physically was the only way He could save His people, then we would see God day in and day out. But our Lord chose another path to lead His people. The path of the Word is our greatest resource.
In God’s Word we are reminded that we are the clay and God is the potter, we are the work of God’s hand. Everyday we see God’s presence in the air we breath, the land we live in and the things we are able to do ourselves none of which could exist without God. This awareness comes as a result of our Lord feeding us through Scripture. Though we are all a sinful lot, God proved His Love for us by sending Jesus to personally atone for our sins thereby we have evidence of God’s love in the Word of God. God has given us the ability to communicate with Him. We continue to see answers to our prayers as God feeds us, clothes us, heals us, and teaches us how to live for Him. These are some of the miracles our Lord has given to us, miracles which are seen through the pages of the Bible.
It is our calling to put our trust in what God has already given us, rather than to place our trust in something new and different that God might be willing to offer. Our help is in the Name of the Lord, not in what He can do rather in who He is!
God is Almighty! He is the author and perfector of our faith and His Word is Living and Active! That is all we will ever need with us as we proclaim the presence and purpose of our Lord. That is all you need, to lift you out of whatever dulldrums might be keeping your faith captive for awhile. I think Isaiah forgot this truth for awhile. He fell into the same trap that we all fall into from time to time, that being, only something big and mighty would capture the attention of his people and would convince them to turn from their sin.
I guess its time to ask ourselves what indeed is big and mighty in our lives as it pertains to God. Are we hoping for some external big and mighty thing to take shape? Do we hope that God would remind the world of his presence again in some big way? Do you pray that God would find some new way to enable people to be prepared for the end of days? Or do we already have the security that the BIG and MIGHTY thing we need is already available to us through the power of the Holy Word?
Mark 13:31 says, “Heaven and Earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” His Words are eternal. His Words are so powerful that even when people forget about the pillars of fire, the destruction of Sodom & even the miracles of Jesus, God’s Holy Word still endures to restore our relationship with Him. His Word endures beyond all the physical things God has done on this world. It endures beyond even heaven and earth itself. The Word of God is still here. The Word of God is still turned to as our sole source life. And remember we didn’t need to turn to the Big Events God performed in order to believe in Him, so why should we want that for those who are still in darkness? God enriches us daily through His Word and that Word continues to confirm our faith day in and day out.
Truthfully we know what CAN HAPPEN when someone hears the words of our Lord. Pillars of Fire do reign down and miracles are in abundance as the Words of God become alive in our spirit. This Word is what will stop the reckless drivers of sinful living right in their tracks and this Word will also restore them to driving safely in the arms of Christ even as it has restored and continues to restore us. Amen.
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