REVIVAL! – Part 3
Isaiah 63:7-64:12 (64:1-12)
December 8, 2024
Exodus 19:18-20 “Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.”
You are familiar with the scene.
• God had led the children of Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
• He had parted the Red Sea and delivered them from the Egyptian attack.
• And now God had led them to Mt. Sinai and there God descended.
It was a terrifying scene.
AND YET it was also a remarkably reassuring one for Israel.
GOD WAS WITH THEM.
He had personally led them out of Egypt
And He would personally lead them into the land of promise.
At any moment throughout their wilderness wanderings,
If God were to depart, it would be over for Israel.
• How does a nation survive 40 years in the desert with no food and no water?
• How does a nation of slaves travel through foreign lands with no threat of
annihilation?
• How does a nomadic people enter a foreign country, declare war on every
nation that lives there, and still take the land?
ONLY IF GOD IS WITH THEM.
To say that God’s presence was the difference is an understatement.
His presence was everything.
And simply by reading that story
We are also brought to the foundational understanding
That nothing is as important as the presence of God in our lives.
• Our talents don’t matter…
• Our wealth doesn’t matter…
• Our experience doesn’t matter…
• It doesn’t matter how charismatic we are…
• It doesn’t matter how advantageous our location is…
Without the presence of God we are nothing.
Nothing and no one is as valuable as Him.
Understanding that is where revival begins to occur.
And that is what we have been seeing here in Israel.
As you know, this is a prophetic picture.
What Isaiah describes he never saw with his own eyes.
• But with prophetic eyes, Isaiah was allowed to see down through the corridors of history the future and coming revival of Israel.
• God has promised even to this day that Israel will return to Him.
• Isaiah was shown that day, and we are now learning about it from him.
This morning we come to the third aspect of this revival Isaiah witnessed.
The last two services we have looked at the first two.
#1 A REVIVAL LESSON
Isaiah 63:7-11a
It was simply a historical reminder of the “lovingkindesses of the LORD.”
Isaiah wanted us to stop and recognize
How loyal God has been to His people.
THIS IS THE BASIS FOR REVIVAL.
If God is not loyal to His people
We would have no hope that revival could ever occur again.
Isaiah simply wanted us to remember God’s lovingkindnesses to us.
• How God redeemed Israel even when they weren’t redeemable.
• How they rebelled against God and brought discipline into their lives.
• How they remembered God and revival occurred.
That was a cycle that we have seen over and over in the history of Israel
And Isaiah simply called that cycle to mind.
He sought to encourage his congregation that
Because of God’s loyal covenantal love, revival is always possible.
That was a revival lesson.
#2 A REVIVAL NEED
Isaiah 63:11-19
Here we saw the day when the scales will fall off of the eyes of Israel.
• We see a people who, like the prodigal son, “came to their senses”
• And began to realize that something is missing in their lives.
(11) “Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses. Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them…?”
They realized that they were missing something…GOD!
• Where was all that power that their ancestors had seen?
• Where was all that provision that their ancestors had enjoyed?
They finally realized that God was not among them.
And they realized why.
There was a reason why God was absent form their lives.
They were missing something else…FAITH.
(16a) “For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us And Israel does not recognize us.”
It is children of faith who are children of Abraham, and finally Israel has realized how far they have fallen.
• They had plenty of religion
• They had plenty of ordinances
• They had plenty of tradition
But what they were missing was the thing
That made Abraham and Jacob unique…faith.
It is no wonder God was absent.
“Without faith it is impossible to please Him” and Israel had no faith.
And that awareness led to a third and much more painful realization.
They were missing something else…SALVATION.
(19) “We have become like those over whom You have never ruled, Like those who were not called by Your name.”
Finally they realize that they were not the redeemed children of God.
• They were like pagans.
• They were like unbelievers.
All of their religious tradition had not made them children of God,
It had only made them self-deceived.
• Just as John the Baptist had said, they were “a brood of vipers”
• Just as Jesus had said, “you are of your father the devil”
THEY ARE LOST.
But as we have said repeatedly,
Before you can get a person saved you first have to get them lost,
And that is what Isaiah saw occurring.
It is like what we studied on Wednesday night.
• Paul desperately tried conquer his sin by his own will and effort
• Only to realize that he was a slave to sin and had no power to defeat it.
• The Law that he thought would save him had been powerless to defeat the sin
that enslaved him.
• He realized that he was lost.
Romans 7:24 “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”
That is exactly the place where we find Israel now.
Isaiah has exposed them and condemned them
And shown them their lostness before God.
THEY NOW KNOW THEY NEED REVIVAL.
And that leads us now to the third point.
#3 A REVIVAL PLEA
Isaiah 64:1-12
What does it look like when a man realizes he is lost and wants to be saved?
• What will his attitude look like?
• What will his prayer be?
• What is the road he will travel back to the Lord?
Here we are shown what it looks like.
I think this is one of the greatest examples of a revival heart
You’ll find anywhere in the Bible.
IT IS THE PRAYER OF A PEOPLE
Who have realized that they do not have the presence of God in their lives
And they want Him worse than anything else.
This is what revival looks like.
3 things
1) THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR YOU, PLEASE COME! (1-4)
After coming to the conclusion of
• God’s absence,
• Their lack of faith,
• And their lost condition,
The initial plea is obvious…RETURN!
“Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Your presence”
That is a reference again to Sinai, that we read a moment ago.
It is an appeal for the obvious, powerful, earth shattering,
Difference making presence of God in their midst.
And I want you to remember; that presence actually terrified them
When it happened the first time.
Deuteronomy 5:23-27 “And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. “You said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives. ‘Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer, then we will die. ‘For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? ‘Go near and hear all that the LORD our God says; then speak to us all that the LORD our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.’”
Those people at Sinai were absolutely terrified
When the presence of God was revealed in their midst.
Their request for God to only interact with them through Moses
Was the very first step in their pulling away from God.
But here, they want Him back,
• Even if His presence is at first terrifying…
• Even if His presence is convicting…
• Even if His presence demands changes in my life…
We want You to return!
There is a good place to ponder a moment.
How many times does the enemy, through fear, convince us that requesting God’s presence and intervention in my life will be a bad thing?
Walking by faith and surrendering all to Christ can be terrifying,
But faith reminds us that God is good
And that He has ordained all to work for good for us.
Revival demands that we overcome our fears
And seek the holy presence of God in our lives.
WHY?
(2) “As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil – To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence.”
Very simply put, we want You because You are the difference maker.
• You are the catalyst.
• You are the fire that burns the wood.
• You are the fire that makes the water boil.
Do you see how they are beginning to recognize that their need for God is their absolute greatest need?
(3-4) “When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence. For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.”
I don’t know if you picked up on that,
But I read verse 4 and immediately wrote down the word: FINALLY.
Do you see what they say about God there?
No one has heard of…
No one has seen…
“A God beside You”
How many times has Isaiah tried to get that point across to a people who just wouldn’t hear it?
TURN TO: Isaiah 40:18-20
Remember, instead of worshipping the true God,
• They tried to recreate Him in the graven image.
• They dumbed God down into something they could understand and ultimately
control, and God was offended.
You see it again in verse 25
The message of Isaiah was
To break up those idolatrous thoughts and see that there is no image,
Nor any other so-called god, that is anything like our God.
TURN TO: Isaiah 43:10-13
TURN TO: Isaiah 44:6-8
TURN TO: Isaiah 45:4-7
TURN TO: Isaiah 45:18
TURN TO: Isaiah 45:20-25
TURN TO: Isaiah 46:3-10
How many times has Isaiah tried to tell them
That there is no other God like our God?
AND FINALLY, THEY GET IT!
Finally, they are confessing that God alone is God!
And with that comes the realization
That God is worthy to be trusted or waited on.
“Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.”
And didn’t Isaiah say that too?
Isaiah 40:27-31 “Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”
Isaiah has been preaching this for nearly 60 years
• And his people have only responded with things like, “Get out of the way, leave the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
BUT NOW, after realized with their lostness and need for God,
• Their eyes have been opened,
• Their ears unstopped,
• They are able to finally see that there is no substitute for God.
And what an important truth to initiate revival.
Think about all the things we enjoy in church
That we can actually do without.
We love things here like the piano, microphones, central heat and air, padded pews, lights, carpet, etc.
And any of you have traveled to Africa know that
You’ve not been in an African church that had any of those things.
Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for all of it.
Certainly there are benefits to any and all of those things.
But none of them are of the essential nature.
BUT GOD IS.
You can’t do it without Him.
John 15:1-5 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
Revival begins when you realize that.
• When God’s presence becomes the most important thing.
• When God’s presence becomes an absolutely essential thing.
If we are content to go through the motions, with only the form of religion, and care not whether God is present or pleased,
We are in a pitiful condition.
THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR GOD.
I think of Asaph, the Psalmist who for a time was caught up in the love of the world and the desire for worldly comforts until God showed him the end worldly riches.
Asaph repented and said:
Psalms 73:25-28 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.”
He fell into the trap that we easily fall into.
• We think about the world.
• We begin to desire the world.
• We start to chase the world.
• We may even begin to acquire the world.
But when Asaph was shown a glimpse of life after death
He realized that in eternity there is no need for money.
When it comes to eternity there is only One that matters,
And that is God.
There is no substitute for the presence of God.
Israel here realizes that, and so they cry out for Him to return.
You want revival in your life? You want revival in our church?
It begins with the simple requirement,
That God would be the most important and valued treasure of your life.
These people wanted God even if His coming was scary.
That is to say, “We want You, no matter the cost.”
Matthew 13:44-46 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
We want You no matter the cost, because You are worth it.
Until that becomes the desire, revival will never occur in your life,
Or in our church, or in our land.
There’s no substitute for You, please come!
2) THERE IS NO MERIT IN US, PLEASE FORGIVE! (5-7)
Not only must a man deal with the reality of God’s absence,
But in order for revival to occur
We must also deal with the reason for His absence.
From the time in the garden there has only ever been
One thing that separated God from man…SIN.
Sin is the great separator.
That means if you want the nearness of God
Then righteousness must become the pursuit of your life.
And that is what Israel confesses here.
(5a) “You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways.”
And again we say: FINALLY!
Isaiah has been preaching that too!
Isaiah 1:11-17 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”
• God didn’t want their religious routines or traditions.
• God didn’t want their outward show of religion.
• God wanted righteousness!
Remember the parable of the vineyard?
Isaiah 5:7 “For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.”
It has been blatantly obvious what God has wanted this whole time,
But Israel has not been able to see it.
And yet here they finally do.
The realize that righteousness is what God desires,
And they realize that they have not given it to Him.
(5b) “Behold, You were angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved?”
You see the beatitudes here don’t you…
• Pure in heart – that God desires righteousness
• Poor in spirit – “shall we be saved?”
• Mourning over sin – “we sinned”
These are a people who have not only come to grips with God’s absence,
But they have also come to grips with the sin that caused it.
There can be no revival without repentance.
There can be no reconciliation without dealing with what caused it.
Listen to the humility and mourning over sin that they express to God.
(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.”
What a power packed verse!
“For all of us have become like one who is unclean…”
What in the world could they be talking about?
• Well do you remember who their preacher was? Isaiah
• And do you remember what Isaiah learned about himself?
Isaiah 6:5 “Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
Isaiah had been sounding that alarm for nearly 60 years.
• Well here the people finally see it.
• We, like Isaiah, are unclean people.
“And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;”
The word “filthy” there is a word that speaks of
“an appointed time” and even more so the “woman’s appointed time”.
The analogy here is like that of the unclean woman in Mark’s gospel
Who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years.
• For 12 years she was unclean.
• For 12 years her garments were unclean.
• For 12 years her bed and blankets were unclean.
• No one would touch her.
• No one would touch the garments she had worn or laid on.
And that is the word being used here by these people
To describe just how “good” their good works are.
They go on to say:
“And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
Remember Psalms 1?
Psalms 1:4 “The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.”
Are you understanding their confession now?
We are sinful people, people totally devoid of righteousness, nothing we have done is good at all.
Their statement almost sounds like Paul’s compilation from Romans 3
That there is none good, not even one.
They go on:
(7) “There is no one who calls on Your name, Who arouses Himself to take hold of You;”
• What a condemnation of their prayer life and their seeking of God.
• What a condemnation of their personal lives.
You aren’t here.
We aren’t righteous.
And no one here is seeking You to fix it.
A lot of lip service is given to revival in our nation and our churches,
But I would have to wonder how much time you’ve spent asking for it?
• Do you pray for God’s presence in your life?
• Do you pray for revival?
• Do you arouse yourself to take hold of God?
These people confessed that they did not.
“For You have hidden Your face from us And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.”
It is an all out confession of sin and plea for mercy.
WHAT A REVIVAL PRAYER!
That is how revival begins.
• There is no substitute for You, please come!
• There is no merit in us, please forgive!
3) THERE IS NO HOPE FOR US, PLEASE SAVE! (8-12)
The beatitude mindset here continues
As you see their meekness and their desire for mercy.
That famous statement of submission:
(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.”
We sing, “Have Thine Own Way”
And so will they.
Jeremiah 18:1-6 “The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying, “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”
The obvious answer to the LORD’S question is: YES!
It is the submissive heart
That comes before the LORD begging mercy and yielding everything.
• We don’t come giving God ultimatums…
• We don’t come trying to strike some sort of bargain…
• We come through the narrow gate, we come traveling the narrow way.
• We leave father and mother, brother and sister, wife and children, houses and farms…
• We part with possessions and give to the poor…
• We follow Christ even though He has no where to lay His head…
• We are content not to collect our inheritance…
• We don’t care if no one at home approves…
We seek Christ, no matter the cost,
And submit total authority over our lives to Him!
THAT IS REVIVAL.
And then here comes the LONG-AWAITED APPEAL.
Everything thus far has been confession.
(9-12) “Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD, Nor remember iniquity forever; Behold, look now, all of us are Your people. Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful house, Where our fathers praised You, Has been burned by fire; And all our precious things have become a ruin. Will You restrain Yourself at these things, O LORD? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?”
You see it twice in there:
“Do not be angry beyond measure…”
“Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?”
What is that an appeal to?
MERCY
• It is an appeal for God to not pour out just wrath.
• It is an appeal for God to not judge without restraint.
They acknowledge that they have already been under God’s wrath.
• They see that “Your holy cities have become a wilderness”
• They see that “Zion has become a wilderness”
• They see that “Jerusalem [has become] a desolation”
• They see that the temple “has been burned by fire”
• They see that “all our precious things have become a ruin”
They see that they are under wrath, and justly so.
The question is whether God will now restrain His judgment and forgive and save them?
We could make an easy parallel there, couldn’t we?
WE COULD SAY, “O God, our nation has been turned over to immorality, the unborn are murdered at an alarming rate, sexual immorality fills our streets, and men are more concerned with entertainment, sports, and laziness than they are worshiping You. The church is way down on the priority list, and righteousness is of no concern to the people.”
And we could just as easily pray:
“Will You restrain Yourself at these things, O LORD? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?”
WE UNDERSTAND WHERE THEY ARE COMING FROM.
Well this prayer for revival ENDS WITH A QUESTION.
And that is where we leave it.
We come to God with a confession of sin and an appeal for mercy,
And we lay that at His feet.
See, salvation and revival are the prerogative of God,
Not the right of man.
We are approaching God and asking for that which we do not deserve.
But we ask for it because God’s CHECED endures forever.
• We believe His word that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• We believe His word that all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
AND SO WE CALL OUT.
I’m mindful of the prayer of Jehoshaphat in Judah
When he had been attacked by 3 neighboring nations.
He appealed to the LORD and this is how he ended his prayer:
2 Chronicles 20:10-12 “Now behold, the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt (they turned aside from them and did not destroy them), see how they are rewarding us by coming to drive us out from Your possession which You have given us as an inheritance. “O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”
“we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You”
That is revival in itself!
ONE DAY, this will be Israel’s prayer to God.
ONE DAY, the fountain of grace will be open to them and they will see their lostness, confess their sinfulness, and pray for salvation.
THAT DAY IS COMING FOR THEM.
But today is the time of the Gentiles.
And today, this opportunity for revival falls directly in our laps.
But it all stems from how badly we want God.
• It all stems from whether we are willing to part with our sin to be able to enjoy His presence.
• It all stems from whether we will submit to His will that we might enjoy Him.
Until that becomes our desire revival will continue to elude us.
It is the heart that longs for God that receives revival.
Let that be your heart!
And let this promise ring in your ear.
Paul actually quoted Isaiah 64:4 in his letter to the Corinthians
1 Corinthians 2:9 “but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”
You do not have to fear requesting the nearness of God in your life.
If you only knew what God has in store for those who love Him,
You would kick yourself for not asking yesterday.
Seek the presence of God and experience the revival He has in store.
