"O! that You would rend the heavens, That You would descend; That the mountains might flow down at your presence! As the fire kindles the dry fuel; As the fire causes the waters to boil; To make known your name to your enemies; That the nations might tremble at your presence. When You did wonderful things, which we expected not; You did descend; At your presence the mountains flowed down. For never have men heard, nor perceived by the ear, Nor has eye seen, a God beside You, Who does such things for those that trust in Him. You meet with joy those who work righteousness; Who in your ways remember You. Lo! You are angry; for we have sinned: Because of our deeds; for we have been rebellious. And we are all of us as a polluted thing; And like a rejected garment are all our righteous deeds; And we are withered way, like a leaf, all of us; And our sins, like the wind, have borne us away. There is no one that invokes your name; That rouses him up to lay hold on You: Therefore You have hidden your face from us; And have delivered us up into the hand of our iniquities. But You, O Jehovah, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You have formed us; We are all of us the work of your hands. Be not wroth, O Jehovah, to the uttermost; Nor for ever remember iniquity. Behold, look upon us, we beseech You; We are all your people. Your holy cities are become a wilderness;Sion is become a wilderness, Jerusalem is desolate. Our glorious and holy temple, Wherein our fathers praised You, Is utterly burnt up with fire; And all the objects of our desire are become a devastation. Will You contain yourself at these things, O Jehovah? Will You keep silence, and still grievously afflict us?" (Isaiah 64:1-12,Lowth)
Divine Eyesight Needed
The key-note of this lesson will be found in the fourth verse, a verse often quoted in the form in which it appears in 1 Corinthians 2:9, and almost as often misunderstood. "For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, beside You, what He has prepared for him that waits for Him." (Isaiah 64:4) "But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him." (1 Corinthians 2:9)
The common idea of the text robs it of all present, practical application, and consequently the reader finds no present help and comfort in it. He simply looks forward to the future, as to a time when God will reveal in the New Jerusalem things which nobody has ever had any conception of.
It is true enough that God has prepared wondrous things for His people, to be revealed at the coming of Christ, which will infinitely surpass anything that human minds can think, or human tongues speak; but that is not at all what is referred to here.
Let us read 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, as given in a most excellent translation. After having said, "We speak the wisdom of God," (1 Corinthians 2:7) and then throwing in the observation that none of the princes of this world know it, the apostle repeats the thoughts in other words, saying, "We speak, as it is written, what no eye has seen, and no ear has heard, and what has not been conceived in any man's heart,--that which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God has revealed it to us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God." (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)
What is it, then, that the messengers of God make known? It is God, as revealed in Christ the Wisdom of God. The Spirit searches the depths of God, in order to reveal Him to us in His uttermost perfection.
What about the things that God has prepared for them that love Him? What are they? They are "the things of God," ... "the deep things of God, For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God." (1 Corinthians 2:11,10-11)
A Revelation of God's Character
And the Spirit searches these deep things, to reveal them unto us. These things--God's works--His own character--He has prepared for those who love Him. Since the foundation of the world no people have ever seen any god besides Jehovah who "works for him that waits for Him." (Isaiah 64:4,RV)
He gives to us himself, and in Him all things consist. But He is now; He is from everlasting to everlasting, always the same. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." (Hebrews 13:8,RV)
His name is I AM. (Exodus 3:14) And He has given himself for us. (Galatians 1:4, 2:20; Ephesians 5:2,25; 1 Timothy 2:6; Titus 2:14) Therefore all the things that God has prepared for us in himself, "above all that we ask or think," (Ephesians 3:20) are ours now. The gods of the nations are nothing; they are only the imaginations of men's hearts; and being nothing it is but natural that they should demand human works and human sacrifices. So all idol worship consists in what men can do.
But God is everything, and therefore it is but natural that He should give, instead of receiving. No one can give Him anything, (1 Chronicles 29:14) but He gives everything, and He gives it now. And why not? Now is the time when we need it most, and it is but in keeping with God's character, to give just when the gift is needed.
This revelation of God to man is in everything that He has made. "The invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and Divinity." (Romans 1:20,RV)
There is no excuse for anybody's ignorance of God, "Because that which may be known of God [namely His everlasting power and Divinity] is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them." (Romans 1:19,RV)
The true Light--the Word made flesh, the Word of life, "lights every man that comes into the world." (John 1:9)
If any do not know the Lord, it is because their eyes are blinded to the light, so that they cannot see light in His light, (Psalm 36:9) and their ears are deaf to the sounds that mark His presence. (Jeremiah 6:10)
The Work of the Spirit
And that is just the case. God is near in every sunbeam, yet men do not perceive Him. His light is not light to them, because they take it as a matter of course. God has been doing wonderful things all our lives, and from the foundation of the world, yet He does them so constantly that men have become dead to all sense that anything at all is being done, and even men called wise discuss with childish gravity the question of whether or not miracles are wrought now. "Oh that You would rend the heavens, that You would come down, that the mountains might flow down at your presence, As when the melting fire burns, the fire causes the waters to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence! When You did terrible things which we looked not for, You came down, the mountains flowed down at your presence." (Isaiah 64:1-3)
So the prophet, moved by the Spirit, wishes that the power of God might be manifested in a way to startle people out of their drowsy lack of perception, so that they could not help seeing. Let the heavens be rent, and the mountains be melted; let terrible things take place, "that the nations may tremble at your presence." (Isaiah 64:2)
Yet even after the fullest possible revelation of God has been made, no human tongue can express, and no human ear can hear, and no human heart can conceive of or understand the things of God, wrought out in his own life for those who wait for Him. "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." (1 Corinthians 12:3)
No flesh and blood, not even that of Jesus of Nazareth, but the Spirit of God alone, can make known the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. "And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 16:16-17) "Wherefore henceforth we know no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth we know Him no more." (2 Corinthians 5:16)
Men may read the words of God, and see nothing in them: other men will read the same words, and by the Spirit will see infinity in them. Moreover, the thoughts of the Lord are great thoughts, "very deep," (Psalm 92:5) and no words that human tongues or pens can frame can express their fullness and depth. Yet God's Word reveals God in His fullness. Therefore in every word of God, in every manifestation of His presence, the spiritual man, who "discerns all things," (1 Corinthians 2:15,RV,margin) will discern far more than can possibly be seen by any natural eye, or understood by any ear. But know this, and do not forget it, that this deep meaning lies in the words themselves, and not outside of them. The Spirit is not opposed to the Word, because the Word is the instrument which the Spirit uses. The Holy Spirit is the anointing which makes people know, (1 John 2:20) the eye salve that gives sight to the blind. (Revelation 3:18)
The one who has that Spirit dwelling in him, an abiding Presence, is a seer. He can see what others cannot see, and is often laughed at as a dreamer. But that is of no consequence. Some wonderful things have been made known in dreams. The important thing is to have that Spirit of truth, through the love of the truth, which brings God with all His power and gifts into the heart. The heart is thus cleansed from sin, and its possessor sees and knows God. Therefore give heed to the words, "Receive the Holy Ghost." (John 20:22)
Sin, a Consuming Power
The prophet, speaking in behalf of all men, said to the Lord, "You have ... delivered us up into the hand of our iniquities." (Isaiah 64:7,Lowth)
The Revision has it, "You have consumed us by means of our iniquities," (Isaiah 64:7,RV) which amounts to the same thing. "His own iniquities shall take the wicked, and he shall be held with the cords of his sin." (Proverbs 5:22,RV)
Whoever sins is simply laying up for himself "wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render unto every man according to his deeds. The stubbornly impenitent, who at last are" (Romans 2:5-6) "burned up," (2 Peter 3:10) so that they become "as though they had not been," (Obadiah 16) are consumed by their own sins. (Numbers 16:26) Sin is a canker; it is like rust, which eats up iron as surely as fire burns wood. Thus sin eats out the life of men, so that they are nothing but emptiness. The nothingness to which the sinner goes at the last, is only the open manifestation of what he was all the time of his life of sin.
Christ, the righteousness of God, whose life cleanses us from all sin, brings into our hearts "all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:19)
Heart Condition Affects Environment
"Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech You, we are all your people. Your holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised You, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste. Will You refrain yourself for these things, O Lord? will You hold your peace, and afflict us very sore?" (Isaiah 64:9-12)
In verses 9-12 there is a truth that is very likely to be overlooked. There we read that the "holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation." (Isaiah 64:10)
But it was many years after the death of Isaiah before Jerusalem was besieged and taken, the temple destroyed, and the land made desolate by the carrying away of the people. Shall we say that the prophet spoke by anticipation? If so, then the same might be said of any other portion of Scripture, which speaks of things as already accomplished.
Moreover, in that case, the prophecy would have been utterly meaningless to those to whom it was first spoken or written. No; in these verses we see that whatever is at any time said of the city of Jerusalem, and Zion, applies primarily to the people, since it is always the character of the people that determines the character of the city or country.
When the Holy Spirit is not allowed to dwell in the hearts of the people, chaos fills them, even such as the whole earth presented before the Spirit of God hovered over it. (Genesis 1:2) And since men are earth's rulers, the land goes to ruin with the people.
Moreover human beings are God's temples, and therefore Zion may truthfully be said to be a wilderness when the hearts of men are a wilderness of sin. The earth is under the curse solely on man's account, and it will be made new again only by the same power that makes men new, and by the working of that power in them.--Present Truth, June 14, 1900--Isaiah 64:1-12.