Isaiah
64
Isaiah
is on his knees in this chapter. The English text and Hebrew text is slightly
differently divided. In the Hebrew the first verse of the English text is the
last verse of chapter 63. Isaiah knows eschatology very well. He is going to
pray it to happen earlier than scheduled in heaven (vv. 1-2 but 63:19c-d until
64:1d in the Hebrew). The reason is that he saw probably a vision of the
punishment that the Lord is going to bring for their sins in Judah between
586-536 BCE (vv.10a-11d). We know it is Judah since Israel is not mentioned.
Israel cannot be mentioned since the exile of Israel already took place in 723
BCE during the time of Isaiah’s ministry. It says “Jerusalem a desolation” (v. 10c). This
verse poses at first glance a problem for the historicists and beg to follow
the preterists in using the historical grammatical approach of interpretation
and assign all of Isaiah’s talking to his own times and events. Adventists
follow the HISTORICAL-GRAMMATICAL approach which is history linked to eternity
past and eternity future. It is a maximalist approach of history in historicism
and in preterism a minimalist approach. It cannot be a reality in Isaiah’s day
since Jerusalem was never a desolation in his day. It was a desolation in 586
BCE and other times in history like 70-73 CE. That is why preterists are forced
in their interpretational key to allocate two Isaiahs to the book of Isaiah,
the real one and the name-user during the exile. Eschatology works with visions
and Isaiah’s source of information in vv. 1-2 is based on visions of the
End-Time. One can assume that God showed him also in vision what is going to
happen a century and a half later in vv. 10-11. There is no need to throw out
the historicist model of interpretation and substitute it for the preterist
model in this chapter. In vv. 8a-9c the Isaiah used the temporal particle “now”
and that is to mean that in Isaiah’s day in about 700 BCE, he is wishing for an
atonement of their sins to take place. This part of the chapter is preteristic
and can fit the historical-interpretational model. Isaiah began by saying that he
wishes that the End will come fast “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and
come down” (v. 1a). It is the scene at the Second Coming where the heavens rend
and God comes down, the mountains quake at the presence of the Lord. Fire will
cause water to boil and trees to burn and the name of God will be made known to
the adversaries of the Lord and nations will tremble at His presence (v. 1-2).
This information is not just imagination of Isaiah. It is known in sources of
earlier prophets now unavailable of visions they had or it is a vision that
Isaiah had. Eschatology seems to have been well known since Adam and what the
Bible records are just selections and fragments of the big picture, because the
concepts were well known to everyone. At that time in the Second Coming “in the
doing of awesome things we did not expect [at the Second Coming] You came down,
the mountains quaked at Your presence” (v. 3a-b). Isaiah then describes the
character of God, as he is doing throughout his book. From the begin of history
no one has seen a God like Isaiah’s God (v. 4). “Who acts on behalf of the one
who waits for him” (v. 4c). The person who rejoices in doing righteousness the
Lord meets (v. 5). The one who remembers the Lord in His ways is the one who is
doing righteousness. The remnant of God’s sinful condition before conversion is
then spelled out. God was angry for the remnant sinned (v. 5c). They continued
in sinning for a long time. All of them [Isaiah included himself] have become
like one who is unclean (v. 6a). The remnant’s righteous deeds are like filthy
garments (v. 6b). Their iniquities like the wind took them away (v. 6d). None
of the remnant calls on the Name of the Lord and they do not attempt to take
hold of God (v. 7a-b). In this situation of sinful condition, God hid His face
from the remnant [also Isaiah “us”] (v. 7c). God delivered them [including
Isaiah] into the hand of their iniquities (v. 7d). For this reason Isaiah is
atonement seeking in vv. 8-9). He calls God His father, view all of them as
clay and the Lord as a potter and all of them are the work of His hand (v.
8a-c). He asks the Lord not to be angry beyond measure and not to remember the
iniquity “forever” (v. 9b). “Behold all of us are Your people” (v. 9c). At this
point the Lord gave Isaiah a vision of the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. “They
holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a
desolation” (v. 10a-b). He could see that the temple “our holy and beautiful
house where our fathers praised You has been burned by fire and all our
precious things have become a ruin” (v. 11a-d). He wanted to know if the Lord
will just let these things happen. Whether the Lord will allow them to be
afflicted like this (v. 12).
Dear God
All of us wants
to be Your people. Grant us the salvation that is only in Your beloved Son,
Jesus Christ. Amen.
Koot
van Wyk, (DLitt et Phil; ThD) Kyungpook National University, Department of
Liberal Education, Sangju, South Korea; conjoint lecturer of Avondale College,
Australia