Title Isaiah 64:1-9
If you look at verses 10-11 right after today's text, you can guess the background of today's text. “Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem is a wasteland; Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire; All the cities of God's people, including the holy city of Zion, were desolate, and above all, the holy and beautiful Jerusalem Temple, where the people of Israel worshiped and rejoiced in God, was destroyed by fire. From this, it is understood that today's text is expressing the miserable feelings of the Israelites who returned from their Babylonian captivity when they saw the ruins of their homeland.
However, it seems that it is not just the ruined cities and the Jerusalem temple that are tormenting the Israelites. The Gentiles who do not know God insult God and despise the faith of Israel. Verse 2, “Let your enemies know your name, and make the nations tremble before you” can be said to imply that the Gentiles do not know God and act arrogantly. In verse 12, “Things are like this, O Lord, do you still want to remain still? Are you still still, and cause us to suffer greatly?” This situation lasts for quite some time and the suffering is very great. do.
Not only that, but through the history of Israel, after the destruction of the Jewish kingdom and the people being taken captive by Babylon, the Gentile tribes who occupied their land, returned to their homeland, rebuilt the destroyed cities, and built the temple in Jerusalem. It can be seen that the restoration of the faith community in Israel felt a great sense of insecurity and crisis, and that the rebuilding of Israel was hindered with all kinds of threats and tricks. And we all know that this brought the people of Israel into a mental crisis that left them discouraged and frustrated, and their faith and life were again lax. Today's text can be said to be a prayer of supplication that came when the people of Israel were faced with a dilemma where they could not return to Babylon and there was no glimmer of hope.
In this prayer we see, firstly, the earnest petition of Israel for an urgent coming from God. “Please, I pray you, divide the heavens and come down” (1a). “Cut the heavens and come down” can be understood as a request for the God of heaven to break the silence and intervene in human history. This can be seen as a plea for God's power to be revealed, hidden from heaven and not being revealed. It can be said that this is an expression of the thirst and sorrow that God's intervention and the work of His power must appear immediately. In verse 12, “Things are like this, O LORD, do you still want to be still? Do you still remain silent, and cause us to suffer greatly?” also shows this desperate feeling.
Fourth, in this prayer, we can nevertheless find the restoration of self-consciousness that the people of Israel are God's people and the petition for salvation. Verse 9 makes it clear to us: "Do not be too angry, O LORD, and remember iniquity forever; behold, behold, I beg you, we are all Your people." This is the image of Israel finally regaining the place of God's people that they had forgotten.
Second, the only true God, the Lord and judge of all things in the universe and history, is their Father. Look at verse 8: "But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hands." Also, here we can feel the remorse for their sins, who nevertheless forgot God. And yet we can sense the expectation of the merciful forgiveness and salvation of God the Father. “But now, O Jehovah, you are our Father” seems to express that reflection and expectation. And now you can feel the awakening to realize that only God's sovereignty and thorough obedience to His Word are the only way for them to live. “We are the clay, and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hands.” I think this realization is revealed.
The first is a correct understanding of God. What kind of God is the God revealed in today's text? He is the only living true God, the Lord of the universe and history, and the God who is the judge of justice. And God is our Father.
The second is awareness of the root cause of our situation. Do you think we are now in trouble, frustrated and in crisis, personally and socially? Then, in doing so, each of us, the church, and society must first realize our sin and disloyalty before God. Rather than trying to find the cause and responsibility of the problem in anything or anyone else, I should first look at the problem of my faith.
Third, repentance for our sins and disloyalty before God and restoration of humility. We must repent of our sins of forgetting that we are God's people. We must repent of our sins of losing our hearts to idols other than God. We must repent of our sins of not doubting or relying on God's power. We must repent of all our sins of not doing God's will. We must repent of our sins of forgetting the love and grace of God the Father.
Today is the first Sunday of the season of waiting for the coming of Jesus Christ, who came to solve mankind's sins, death, and all suffering and unhappiness. Everyone must have Jesus Christ come into their hearts and lives. Because it is only in him that all problems can be solved. However, if we truly wait for the coming of Jesus Christ and ask for it, we must carefully engrave what we have learned through today's text in our hearts. I hope that this Advent and Christmas will be a joyful time for all of us to welcome the Lord with a correct confession of knowledge of our Father, a sincere recognition of our sins, true repentance, and a commitment to humility and obedience.