Text: Isaiah 64:1-8
“Enough is enough!” When things get so bad, you’ve tried again and again, yet you can’t see any way through, you might throw up your hands and say, “Enough is enough!” Maybe you’ve been feeling that way lately? It could be the many maddening topics in the news—election fallout, coronavirus scare and hope, the stress and pain the holidays bring up. It seems to be one thing after another…
On top of that, there’s been the general apathy toward God that results in churches being sparsely populated (except for the feel-good ones). When we tell others about the hope within us, often they reject it with a smug pride and say it’s none of our business what beliefs they hold. This especially hits home for pastors, when they labor constantly, and end up with people isolating themselves from the congregation and they see kids hardly ever coming back once they reach confirmation.
Enough is enough! Or as the Psalmist said, “O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?” (Ps. 94:3)
Isaiah, too, was saying enough is enough! He had preached to Israel and her kings for over 60 years, but no one seemed to listen. He had rebuked them for being a vineyard of wild grapes, of calling evil good and good evil, preaching impending judgment but the kings and people stubbornly putting the Lord to the test.
Besides this, Isaiah had been given to foresee the future blessings of God: the Servant of God (Isa. 42:1-9, 49:1-13, 50:4-11, 52:13–53:12), the redemption (Isa. 44), deliverance from death (25:6-9), victory over enemies (37-38). God would provide deliverance and restoration from what His people were living under, and Isaiah saw it in such clear terms that his prophecies are written like it’s already happened.
But put that all together—the frustration and the promised blessing, and out comes this prayer in chapter 64:
Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence—
2 as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3 When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
What’s it going to take to get past the bad and into the promised future good? Why does God allow His people to be so hardened toward Him? Why does He let His enemies trample on His people and profane His Name? This is the contradiction God’s prophet sees: On the one hand is the everlasting covenant between God and His people, where He promises us every blessing and says that His Word goes out and accomplishes every purpose for which He sends it (55:9-12). On the other hand is the daily experience of foolishness, weakness, stubborn hearts, and the victory of the grave.
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 There is no one who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.
The only remedy is a direct and powerful intervention from God, which would make arrogant tremble and would turn this broken and rebellious world on its head. And isn’t that what we pray for to? The world is getting worse and worse, our sinful flesh keeps doing those things which are against the Spirit, and we are sick of burying our dead and talking about the resurrection while the world snickers and we can’t fill the hole left by those who’re gone.
4 From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.
5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
God is the only one who can answer prayer, much more a prayer like this! And He did indeed answer Isaiah’s prayer, though not exactly in the way expected. It was much less violent than that, yet no less mighty. He came down from heaven, but was born of a humble virgin. He appeared, but first to shepherds. Nations gathered to Him, but they were foreigners and they worshipped Him even as a Child. He came in covenant faithfulness and also answered for the rank apostasy. God’s answer was not in another Flood, but in being lifted up from the earth, crucified, death, and buried, and rising again on the third day. In Jesus Christ, very God and fully man, all the judgments and blessings of God culminated.
In this one born of a virgin, the transgressions of the wandering sheep were smitten and healed. In Him, the covering cast over all peoples, death, is taken away. In Him, the bruised reed and the faintly burning wick is not snuffed out, but is called in His perfect righteousness.
And He continues to come down from heaven in ways which only faith knows to look for: God does not boom from heaven with condemnation and judgment, but with salvation in His Son’s life-giving Gospel. His Word is preached in congregations big and small, and there the very gates of heaven are opened, sinners are released, and the One with whom the Father is pleased speaks, and we listen to Him (Matt. 17:5). His Kingdom comes quietly, but powerfully as parents pray for their wayward children, people come back to their childhood faith with a truer appreciation for the pure Gospel, and friends share the blessed hope of knowing Jesus and invite them to church. The Lord comes down from heaven and strengthens us in every season, but especially when it all seems too much to bear, and the tangible assurance of Jesus Body and Blood delivers His peace.
Isaiah prayed for the Lord to intervene for Israel, and He did at that time. Although they were dragged into exile, they were restored until God’s promise for every nation was fulfilled in Immanuel, God with us.
Today, we feel like enough is enough, but we also have seen how God acted in times before. In His wisdom, He acts for good and does not delay except that more people repent and be saved. Scripture does assure us that the second coming of Christ is at hand, and when He comes again it will be to judge His foes and set all things right. But most of all we rejoice that this coming builds on His first, where He remembered His mercy toward us. Because of Jesus, we are able to confess,
But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Be not so terribly angry, O Lord,
and remember not iniquity forever.
Behold, please look, we are all your people.
Amen.