REVIVAL! – part 1
Isaiah 63:7-64:12 (63:7-11a)
November 24, 2024
Tonight we finally begin the segment we have been waiting for.
In some ways we still wait for it.
I’ve told you that I am convinced that Isaiah 50-66 is prophetic of Israel today even to the end.
I think Isaiah saw their rejection of the Messiah, their separation from God, and their prophesied repentance and return to Him.
So far we’ve walked all through that rejection which was articulated in chapter 50 as Israel being divorced and sent away.
We saw it was because no one accepted Christ when He came.
But we have also heard Isaiah relentlessly preach the gospel to them.
He has offered a future to that barren woman, that foreigner, and the eunuch.
He has offered restoration to that forsaken and rejected woman.
He has offered water to the thirsty
He has offered mercy to the broken
He has offered freedom to the captives
And he has promised repeatedly that when Israel returns to the Lord that He will return to them.
We even saw this morning that glorious return when He avenges them against their enemies and redeems them to Himself.
It has all been promised.
And down to this day we still wait for the return of Israel.
Well Isaiah saw that return.
Like Zechariah who spoke of the day when Israel looks upon Him whom they pierced, Isaiah also saw the great repentance and revival of Israel.
And that return of Israel is captured beautifully by Isaiah here at the end of chapter 63 and in chapter 64.
And just for a quick fly-over to make the point.
Look at the moment they become aware of their defection:
(63:16a) “For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us And Israel does not recognize us.”
Look at when they realize they have been broken off from God.
(63:17a) “Why, O LORD, do You cause us to stray from Your ways And harden our heart from fearing You?”
Look at the moment they realize they are lost:
(63:19) “We have become like those over whom You have never ruled, Like those who were not called by Your name.”
Look at the moment they realize that works can’t save them:
(64:6) “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
Look at the moment they realize they must submit to God:
(64:8) “But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.”
What you clearly see in these two chapters is the awakening of Israel.
Jesus told Nicodemus that before a man could enter the kingdom of heaven he “must be born again”
That is to say God must take that which is spiritually dead and breathe life into it.
He must remove the heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh.
He must give life to the dead so that they may see their sinfulness.
He must grant them repentance of their sin.
He must grant them faith to believe and call on the Lord.
That is what this chapter is for Israel.
And might I also say, that we have never seen this from them, even since the days of Isaiah.
We wait for this day.
We watch for this day.
But we are confident that this day is coming!
Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”
Speaking to the Jews:
Acts 3:25-26 “It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’ “For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”
Paul said:
Romans 11:25-29 “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” “THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
In short, Israel will one day come to Jesus!
This is what it will look like when they do.
That alone makes this an interesting study since we have repeatedly said that the salvation of Israel is of significant interest to us.
We love that God keeps His faithfulness to them, as it reminds that He will keep His faithfulness to us.
So we certainly watch this scene unfold with eager eyes.
But even more than that, what a great segment of Scripture to teach us the nature and reality of true revival.
So as we study, may it be more than just a prophetic announcement of Israel’s future salvation.
May it also be a penetrating revelation of what revival is, how to know when it is needed, and how to achieve it.
This is going to be a fun study!
I’m going to take this segment and break it down into 3 points, and each major point will have 3 subpoints because I think that will be the clearest way to work through what we see here.
But let’s get started tonight.
#1 A REVIVAL LESSON
Isaiah 63:7-11a
Isaiah’s announcement begins with a history lesson.
He just speaks of what we have seen over and over and over again in the Scriptures.
It is a testimony to the relentless CHECED of God.
That’s how Isaiah starts.
(7) “I shall make mention of the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, the praises of the LORD…”
You are familiar with that Hebrew word CHECED.
Some translations refer to it as lovingkindess
Some refer to it as mercy
Some refer to it as love
What it is more than anything is God’s loyalty to those He has chosen to save.
It is more than faithfulness.
Faithfulness suggests that God will keep His promises, which He will.
But loyalty suggests that even when God would be justified in not doing something, He still does it anyway.
And this is certainly the attribute of God that Isaiah wants to point out about God.
It is the attribute of God that allows us to confidently tell sinners that if they repent God will forgive them.
It is the attribute of God that allows us to remind believer, that even when they mess up, God will never leave them nor forsake them.
And here we learn that it is perhaps the attribute of God that gives us confidence in the possibility of revival more than any other.
So Isaiah wants to discuss God’s CHECED.
You see it show up in verse 7 in various ways.
“According to all that the LORD has granted us” – that would be a reference to the grace of God.
“And the great goodness toward the house of Israel” – certainly that speaks of the goodness of God toward us.
“Which He has granted them according to His compassion” – there it is a reference to the compassion of God.
“And according to the abundance of His lovingkindness”
And you can see how Isaiah sort of binds up God’s grace, God’s goodness, and God’s compassion and he places them all under the broader heading of God’s lovingkindness or His CHECED.
Grace and goodness and compassion are all available to us because of God’s loyal covenantal love toward us.
And Isaiah sees that as the foundation stone of Israel’s existence and her only hope in the future.
And Isaiah begins to talk about the past salvation of Israel, which was definitely an exhibition of God’s CHECED.
And if we break this first point down a little further, what we talk about first is the reality of our history lesson:
1) GOD REDEEMED (8-9)
(8) “For He said, “Surely, they are My people, Sons who will not deal falsely.” So He became their Savior.”
I suppose you could read that in one sense as though God was incredibly naïve.
Almost like God terribly misjudged Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Like God failed to rightly discern what type of people they were in Egypt.
But of course that it is not at all what Isaiah is speaking of.
God was well-aware of who and what Abraham was when He chose him.
God was well-aware of Isaac and Jacob and every Israelite in Egypt when He chose to save them.
What Isaiah means is that God took sinful people with sinful passion and chose to treat them as though they deserved salvation.
God took a pagan slave trader named Abram and treated him like a righteous man who deserved the greatest blessing ever pronounced.
God took a spiritual dud like Isaac and treated him like a zealot for righteousness.
God took a lying swindler like Jacob and treated him like a man who deserved to father a nation.
God took a rabble of fickle slaves and treated them like a nation of priests.
That is salvation in a nutshell.
It’s what you and I refer to as UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION.
That God chooses unworthy men as though they were worthy.
We think of Jesus looking at Simon and saying, “You shall be called Peter”.
Simon was anything but a rock.
There is not a more “up and down” disciple among the 12 than Peter.
But that is who God is.
He saves sinners and treats them like they are not sinners.
And certainly God did this for Israel.
Furthermore Isaiah speaks of the great pains God took to save His people.
He writes:
(9) “In all their affliction He was afflicted,”
Stop there for a second.
It is the gospel heart of God.
We see God walking with Abram throughout his wanderings and journeys.
We see God approach Abram to discuss the annihilation of Sodom and Gomorrah.
We see God accompanying Jacob to Padan-aram and back to Canaan.
We see God dwelling with the slaves in Egypt and traveling with them through the wilderness.
Many times their sin grieved Him…
Many times their faithlessness angered Him…
The point being, it was costly for God to save these people.
And certainly all of that was nothing but a foreshadow to the coming Savior, Jesus Christ.
It is Jesus who would take on humanity.
It is Jesus who would suffer and take our griefs and sorrows.
It is Jesus who would bear the wrath that we deserve.
It is Jesus who would die in our stead.
And Isaiah recognizes that in regard to the saving heart of God.
God is a Savior who gets down into the pit to save those who do not deserve it.
It is tremendous lovingkindness exhibited by God, and our past is full of expressions of it.
“And the angel of His presence saved them;”
We remember the Passover
We remember the pillar of fire
We remember the cloud of glory
God was not a distant savior.
He was ever present.
“In His love and in His mercy, He redeemed them, And He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.”
And that is certainly the testimony of God’s saving grace toward Israel.
He chose to love those who were not loveable.
He chose to save sinners as though they deserved it.
Thought it was costly He drew near to them and saved them.
He bought them from their slavery and exalted them.
He dwelled with them and carried them all their days.
And that is very understandable to us, for God has done the same things for us.
We recognize and understand what the salvation of God looks like for we have experienced it ourselves.
And Isaiah simply wants to draw our minds back to that reality.
So think about it for a moment…
Galatians 4:1-7 “Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”
Ephesians 2:1-10 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Colossians 2:13-14 “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
Titus 3:3-7 “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
You get the point.
We were unworthy
We were sinful
But God granted us compassion.
He demonstrated His grace and goodness to us by treating us as though we deserved salvation.
Our salvation was costly to Him, as it cost Him the precious blood of His holy Son, and yet He paid that price anyway to redeem us from our bondage.
And since that day God has done nothing but lift us and carry us and be a loyal and faithful God to us.
That is true in every sense of our understanding.
And Isaiah begins by calling your mind back to that reality.
God redeemed
But there is a second lesson here Isaiah wants to call to your mind as well.
2) PEOPLE REBELLED (10)
“But they rebelled And grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them.”
Despite the measureless loyalty of God given to these undeserving people, gratitude appeared to be in short supply.
They disregarded His goodness…
They trampled upon His grace…
They ignored His CHECED…
And they rebelled against God.
Psalms 78:12-22 “He wrought wonders before their fathers In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused them to pass through, And He made the waters stand up like a heap. Then He led them with the cloud by day And all the night with a light of fire. He split the rocks in the wilderness And gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths. He brought forth streams also from the rock And caused waters to run down like rivers. Yet they still continued to sin against Him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert. And in their heart they put God to the test By asking food according to their desire. Then they spoke against God; They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? “Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed out, And streams were overflowing; Can He give bread also? Will He provide meat for His people?” Therefore the LORD heard and was full of wrath; And a fire was kindled against Jacob And anger also mounted against Israel, Because they did not believe in God And did not trust in His salvation.”
Psalms 78:40-42 “How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness And grieved Him in the desert! Again and again they tempted God, And pained the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power, The day when He redeemed them from the adversary,”
Psalms 78:54-64 “So He brought them to His holy land, To this hill country which His right hand had gained. He also drove out the nations before them And apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God And did not keep His testimonies, But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers; They turned aside like a treacherous bow. For they provoked Him with their high places And aroused His jealousy with their graven images. When God heard, He was filled with wrath And greatly abhorred Israel; So that He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh, The tent which He had pitched among men, And gave up His strength to captivity And His glory into the hand of the adversary. He also delivered His people to the sword, And was filled with wrath at His inheritance. Fire devoured His young men, And His virgins had no wedding songs. His priests fell by the sword, And His widows could not weep.”
And that is nothing new to you.
There was no gratitude or loyalty from the people to God.
They never loved Him as they should…
They never obeyed Him as they promised…
“They rebelled And grieved His Holy Spirit”
Psalms 95:7b-11 “Today, if you would hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”
They responded to God’s CHECED in the most despicable way.
And the brought the discipline of God upon their lives.
We saw plagues in the wilderness…
We saw serpents biting them from the sand…
We saw neighboring nations given permission to persecute them…
We saw Babylon deport them…
Their lack of faithfulness to God and their rebellion against Him brought tremendous discipline into their lives.
They grieved God.
They angered Him.
They betrayed Him.
He would have been totally justified in wiping them out completely and moving on to select a new people.
We know the story of Israel.
But at the same time, it is difficult for us to point much of a finger at them.
How is your gratitude for salvation?
How is your loyalty to God?
How does your faithfulness stack up to His?
Have I ever grieved God’s Holy Spirit?
Ephesians 4:25-32 “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”
According to Paul
If I have ever failed to speak truth…
If I have ever lost my temper…
If I have ever stolen anything…
If I have ever failed to share…
If I have ever spoken unwholesome words that failed to give grace…
If I have ever displayed bitterness, or wrath, or anger, or clamor, or slander…
If I have ever failed to be kind or forgiving…
Then I too have grieved the Holy Spirit of God.
I think back to the mindset of God prior to the flood when He said:
Genesis 6:5-6 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”
Or I think back to the mindset of God as Israel made a golden calf:
Exodus 32:9-10 “The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. “Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
And I can’t help but realize that I have done the same things.
Most of us remember and even willingly confess the sinfulness of our lives when we were lost.
We remember life before salvation and testimonies are filled with stories of wickedness that required the intervention of Christ to deliver me.
We know about the former lives of one another:
Foul language…
Sexual immorality…
Greed…
Idolatry…
And we have shared how Christ saved us even though we were sinners.
But far less glamorous to discuss, and indeed far less spoken about is the sin that I have committed after being saved.
How after Jesus saved me from my sin and set me free, about that time that I relapsed into the old man and was again given over to lust or greed or idolatry or unwholesome speech.
Here I was, a man redeemed!
Here I was, a man set free!
Here I was, a recipient of grace and I still committed the very sins that I was forgiven of.
That is a far less glamourous testimony.
That is far more embarrassing.
After I knew better.
I fell back into that same old sin.
I won’t ask you to share your stories, but my guess is that you know exactly what I am talking about.
And we realize that, like Israel, we also have had the propensity to receive the salvation of God and then rebel and grieve His Holy Spirit.
We too have wandered in the wilderness…
We too have grumbled over manna…
We too have considered returning to Egypt…
We too have complained about Moses and his leadership…
We too have failed to claim God’s promises and enter the land…
We too have embraced that which was under the ban like Achan…
We too have become like the world…
We too have embraced our idols…
We know exactly what Isaiah is talking about because not only have we read it in the Old Testament, but we’ve seen it in our lives.
God redeemed and we rebelled
But there has always been a third part of that story with Israel.
3) PEOPLE REMEMBERED (11a)
“Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses.”
What is that?
It was the beginning of the fires of revival.
It was the beginning of God’s awakening of their dead hearts.
It was the grace of God to allow them to recognize how far they had fallen and that they were in need of the lovingkindness of God yet again.
TURN TO: PSALMS 106
That is the cycle Isaiah reminds of here.
We are talking about a people who have always been treated by God far better than they deserve.
We are talking about a people who were loved and redeemed and saved with no merit of their own.
We are talking about a people who then, in spite of that great grace, still rebelled against God and brought discipline into their lives.
But they “remembered”
God allowed them to remember the glories of their salvation and God allowed them to see how far they had fallen from it.
Like the prodigal son, God granted them the grace to “come to their senses” and smell the pigs and return to their Father.
And even though He had suffered in their salvation…
And even though He had been grieved by their rebellion…
God demonstrated His lovingkindness yet again.
His CHECED never fails.
His CHECED endures forever.
And the Psalmist said:
Psalms 106:44-46 “Nevertheless He looked upon their distress When He heard their cry; And He remembered His covenant for their sake, And relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness. He also made them objects of compassion In the presence of all their captors.”
It is what we call revival.
Israel’s history is full of those too.
We see them over and over throughout the period of the Judges as the people would suffer and then turn back to God and He would send a Judge to deliver them.
We see them during the period of the Kings under leaders like Josiah who restored the Law to the people or Hezekiah who led them in faith against Assyria.
We see them under Haggai and Zechariah as the people repent and determine to rebuild the temple of God.
We see it under John the Baptist as the people come to the Jordan and are baptized confessing their sins.
We see it at Pentecost when the people grieve over their rejection of Christ and the church bursts forth throughout the land.
Though Israel did not deserve God’s CHECED they have always received it.
And that is the foundation upon which Isaiah will give us the rest of this chapter.
He is about to call Israel to once again “remember”.
He is about to show us the day God will open their eyes yet again.
He is about to show us how Israel will once again return to God and God will save them.
But it is a good reminder to us as well.
When we come to our senses regarding our sin…
When God graciously opens our eyes to the discipline we have been under…
When God mercifully shows us the sin that has grieved Him…
He does so in order that we might confess it and return to Him.
For just like Israel throughout the pages of Scripture we know that God’s CHECED never fails us either.
1 John 1:5-10 “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”
We do not serve a God who turns a blind eye to sin.
He has never been ok with sin and He never will be.
However, He is merciful to sinners; even when those sinners are those He has already redeemed.
And when we come to terms with our sin and confess them to Him, He promises forgiveness and revival to us again.
That is a testimony to His CHECED
And that is the foundation for why revival can still happen today.
We’re going to stop there tonight and we’ll start looking at the coming revival of Israel next time.
May God show us what revival is, and may He lead us to it.
