Isaiah 64 Study Notes: A Plea for God to Come Down
The people's prayer asks the LORD to tear open the sky and descend in power as He did long ago. They confess that sin has made them all unclean, even their best deeds, then appeal to God as their Father and Potter and lay the ruin of Zion and its temple before Him.
General
After confessing their sin, on what do the people base their plea for mercy in 64:8-9?
Answer: That the LORD is their Father and they are His shaped clay
Having admitted they have nothing good to offer, the people turn to God Himself: He is their Father, they are clay and He is the potter, and every one of them was made by His hand (64:8). On that basis they ask Him not to stay angry without limit or hold their sin against them forever, since they belong to Him as His people (64:9). The prayer had already called God their Father and Redeemer (63:16). The potter picture shows that God has every right over what He has made; Jeremiah used it to show that Israel was in God's hand like clay (Jeremiah 18:6), and Paul uses it to say that the clay may not talk back to the potter (Romans 9:20-21). Here the people use that same truth to ask the Potter to care for His own work.
- Isaiah 64:8-9 (BSB)“But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand. Do not be angry, O LORD, beyond measure; do not remember our iniquity forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray; we are all Your people!”The people appeal to God as their Father and Potter and plead for Him to remember them as His people.
- Isaiah 63:16 (BSB)“Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.”Earlier in the same prayer the people call the LORD their Father and Redeemer.
- Jeremiah 18:6 (BSB)““O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”The LORD uses the potter and clay to show that Israel lies wholly in His hand.
- Romans 9:20-21 (BSB)“But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?” Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?”Paul uses the potter image to affirm God's right over what He forms.
Theological
What is the ground of the people's appeal for mercy in 64:8-9?
Answer: That the LORD is their Father and they are His shaped clay
Stripped of any claim of their own, the people appeal to God's relation to them: He is their Father, they are clay and He the potter, every one of them shaped by His hand (64:8). The petition follows: do not stay angry without limit or hold their sin against them forever, for they belong to Him (64:9). The fatherhood plea echoes 63:16. The potter image elsewhere asserts God's sovereign right over His creatures, as in Jeremiah 18:6 and Paul's use in Romans 9:20-21, where the clay has no right to answer back. Here the same sovereign ownership becomes the ground of hope: the Potter is asked to show mercy to the vessel He Himself has shaped.
- Isaiah 64:8-9 (BSB)“But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand. Do not be angry, O LORD, beyond measure; do not remember our iniquity forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray; we are all Your people!”The people appeal to God as their Father and Potter and plead for Him to remember them as His people.
- Isaiah 63:16 (BSB)“Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.”Earlier in the same prayer the people call the LORD their Father and Redeemer.
- Jeremiah 18:6 (BSB)““O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”The LORD uses the potter and clay to show that Israel lies wholly in His hand.
- Romans 9:20-21 (BSB)“But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?” Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?”Paul uses the potter image to affirm God's right over what He forms.
General
In 1 Corinthians 2:9 Paul echoes the thought of 64:4. What does Paul apply it to?
Answer: The good things God has made ready for all who love Him
In 64:4 the prayer says that since the earliest days nobody has ever heard of or seen any God except the LORD, the God who works for people who wait on Him. Waiting on God here means trusting Him and looking to Him for help. Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 2:9 echo this verse in different wording: he speaks of things no human eye, ear, or heart has grasped, namely the good that God has made ready for people who love Him. Paul then adds that God has now made these things known to believers by His Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10). Lamentations 3:25 likewise says the LORD shows goodness to people who wait on Him.
- Isaiah 64:4 (BSB)“From ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.”The prayer confesses that no other God has ever been heard of or seen who acts for those who wait for Him.
- 1 Corinthians 2:9 (BSB)“Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.””Paul echoes the verse in his own wording and applies it to what God has prepared for those who love Him.
- 1 Corinthians 2:10 (BSB)“But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”Paul adds that God has revealed these hidden things to believers by His Spirit.
- Lamentations 3:25 (BSB)“The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.”Scripture elsewhere affirms the LORD's goodness to those who wait for Him, as 64:4 does.
Theological
Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 2:9 echo 64:4 in a freer form. To what does he apply them?
Answer: The good things God has made ready for all who love Him
Isaiah 64:4 confesses the LORD's uniqueness: in all of history no one has known of a God other than He, who works for people who wait on Him. Paul's citation in 1 Corinthians 2:9 is a free rendering rather than a word-for-word quotation, speaking of what eye, ear, and heart have not grasped, which God has made ready for people who love Him. He goes on to say that God has disclosed these things through the Spirit, who searches even the depths of God (1 Corinthians 2:10). The waiting of 64:4 is the patient trust that Lamentations 3:25 also commends.
- Isaiah 64:4 (BSB)“From ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.”The prayer confesses that no other God has ever been heard of or seen who acts for those who wait for Him.
- 1 Corinthians 2:9 (BSB)“Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.””Paul echoes the verse in his own wording and applies it to what God has prepared for those who love Him.
- 1 Corinthians 2:10 (BSB)“But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”Paul adds that God has revealed these hidden things to believers by His Spirit.
- Lamentations 3:25 (BSB)“The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.”Scripture elsewhere affirms the LORD's goodness to those who wait for Him, as 64:4 does.
General
What does the prayer at the start of Isaiah 64 ask the LORD to do (64:1-2)?
Answer: That He would tear open the sky and descend in power
The prayer that began in 63:15 continues with a bold request: that the LORD would split the sky open and descend, so that mountains shake before Him and the nations tremble, as surely as fire sets dry brush ablaze and brings water to a boil (64:1-2). The goal is that His enemies would come to know His name. The people remember that God had acted this way before, doing fearsome deeds they never expected, while the mountains shook (64:3). At Sinai the LORD descended in fire and all the mountain shook (Exodus 19:18), and David described God parting the sky to rescue him (Psalm 18:9). The prayer asks God to act again as He had in the past.
- Isaiah 64:1-3 (BSB)“If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence, as fire kindles the brushwood and causes the water to boil, to make Your name known to Your enemies, so that the nations will tremble at Your presence! When You did awesome works that we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains trembled at Your presence.”The people ask God to descend in power, recalling that He had done so before.
- Isaiah 63:15 (BSB)“Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious habitation. Where are Your zeal and might? Your yearning and compassion for me are restrained.”The prayer had begun by asking God to look down from heaven and wondering where His zeal and might had gone.
- Exodus 19:18 (BSB)“Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.”At Sinai the LORD descended in fire and the mountain quaked, the kind of past descent the prayer recalls.
- Psalm 18:9 (BSB)“He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds beneath His feet.”David pictures God parting the heavens to rescue him, the same kind of intervention 64:1 asks for.
Theological
What is the opening petition of the prayer in 64:1-2?
Answer: That He would tear open the sky and descend in power
Isaiah 64 carries forward the lament begun in 63:15, now voicing the petition that the LORD would tear the sky open and descend, with mountains quaking and nations trembling, so that His adversaries would know His name (64:1-2). The appeal rests on precedent: He had acted before with fearsome, unexpected deeds (64:3). Sinai is the pattern, where the LORD came down in fire upon a violently shaking mountain (Exodus 19:18), and David uses the same language of God parting the sky to deliver him (Psalm 18:9). The prayer asks God to repeat His past interventions for His people's sake.
- Isaiah 64:1-3 (BSB)“If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence, as fire kindles the brushwood and causes the water to boil, to make Your name known to Your enemies, so that the nations will tremble at Your presence! When You did awesome works that we did not expect, You came down, and the mountains trembled at Your presence.”The people ask God to descend in power, recalling that He had done so before.
- Isaiah 63:15 (BSB)“Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious habitation. Where are Your zeal and might? Your yearning and compassion for me are restrained.”The prayer had begun by asking God to look down from heaven and wondering where His zeal and might had gone.
- Exodus 19:18 (BSB)“Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.”At Sinai the LORD descended in fire and the mountain quaked, the kind of past descent the prayer recalls.
- Psalm 18:9 (BSB)“He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds beneath His feet.”David pictures God parting the heavens to rescue him, the same kind of intervention 64:1 asks for.
General
True or False: In 64:5-7 the people confess that their sins are unclean but that their good deeds still make them acceptable to God.
Answer: False
This is false. The people confess that every one of them is now like something defiled and that even their good deeds are no better than soiled cloth; they fade like leaves and their sins sweep them off like a gust (64:6). They ask how they can be saved while they stay in their sins (64:5), and they admit that nobody calls on God or tries to hold on to Him (64:7). This is a picture of total depravity, meaning that sin has affected every part of human life, so that even our best deeds cannot make us right with God. Paul says the same: no one is righteous, no one seeks God, and keeping the law can never justify anyone, that is, declare them right with God (Romans 3:10-12; 3:19-20). The only hope is a righteousness that comes from God by trusting in Christ (Philippians 3:9).
- Isaiah 64:5-7 (BSB)“You welcome those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways. Surely You were angry, for we sinned. How can we be saved if we remain in our sins? Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind. No one calls on Your name or strives to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.”The people admit that even their righteous deeds are unclean and that no one seeks God.
- Romans 3:10-12 (BSB)“As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.””Paul says no one is righteous or seeks God, matching the confession that no one calls on His name.
- Romans 3:19-20 (BSB)“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.”Paul concludes that no one is justified by works of the law, just as their righteous acts cannot cleanse them.
- Philippians 3:9 (BSB)“and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.”Paul rests on a righteousness from God through faith, not his own, which answers the need 64:6 exposes.
Theological
True or False: In 64:5-7 the people confess their sin while treating their righteous deeds as a ground of acceptance before God.
Answer: False
This is false. The confession leaves no room for self-righteousness: each is now like something defiled, and even their righteous deeds are like soiled garments, while their sins carry them off like a gust (64:6). They ask how they can be saved if they stay in their sins (64:5), and admit that nobody calls on God or stirs himself to lay hold of Him (64:7). This is total depravity: sin pervades the whole person, so that even the best works cannot commend a sinner to God. Paul draws the same conclusion, that none is righteous, none seeks God, and law-keeping justifies no one (Romans 3:10-12; 3:19-20). Acceptance rests only on the righteousness God gives, received by trusting in Christ (Philippians 3:9).
- Isaiah 64:5-7 (BSB)“You welcome those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways. Surely You were angry, for we sinned. How can we be saved if we remain in our sins? Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind. No one calls on Your name or strives to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.”The people admit that even their righteous deeds are unclean and that no one seeks God.
- Romans 3:10-12 (BSB)“As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.””Paul says no one is righteous or seeks God, matching the confession that no one calls on His name.
- Romans 3:19-20 (BSB)“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.”Paul concludes that no one is justified by works of the law, just as their righteous acts cannot cleanse them.
- Philippians 3:9 (BSB)“and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.”Paul rests on a righteousness from God through faith, not his own, which answers the need 64:6 exposes.
General
After describing their ruined cities and temple, what question do the people ask the LORD at the end of the prayer (64:12)?
Answer: Whether He will hold back and stay silent while they suffer
The prayer ends by laying the ruin of God's people before Him. The holy towns are now empty land, and Zion and Jerusalem lie desolate (64:10). The beautiful temple where their ancestors praised God has gone up in flames, and everything precious to them is ruined (64:11). Then they ask whether, after all this, God will keep holding Himself back, stay quiet, and go on afflicting them without limit (64:12). Other laments use the same honest language: Psalm 74:7 grieves over a burned sanctuary, Psalm 79:1 over Jerusalem in rubble, and Psalm 44:23 calls on the Lord to wake up and not reject His people forever.
- Isaiah 64:10-12 (BSB)“Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins. After all this, O LORD, will You restrain Yourself? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?”The people describe the ruined cities and burned temple and ask whether God will remain silent.
- Psalm 74:7 (BSB)“They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.”Another lament grieves that the sanctuary has been burned, the same loss 64:11 lays before God.
- Psalm 79:1 (BSB)“A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.”Asaph laments that Jerusalem has been reduced to rubble, as 64:10 describes.
- Psalm 44:23 (BSB)“Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.”The psalmist calls on the Lord to wake and not reject His people forever, the same plea as 64:12.
Theological
With what question does the lament close in 64:12, after describing the desolation of Zion and the temple?
Answer: Whether He will hold back and stay silent while they suffer
The lament closes by setting the desolation of the covenant people before the LORD: the holy towns emptied, Zion and Jerusalem desolate (64:10), and the temple where the ancestors praised Him consumed by fire (64:11). The final question is bold: after all this, will He hold Himself back, stay quiet, and keep afflicting them without limit (64:12)? The same bold pleading appears in the psalms of lament, which grieve over the burned sanctuary (Psalm 74:7) and the ruin of Jerusalem (Psalm 79:1) and call on the Lord to rouse Himself and not reject His people forever (Psalm 44:23).
- Isaiah 64:10-12 (BSB)“Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins. After all this, O LORD, will You restrain Yourself? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?”The people describe the ruined cities and burned temple and ask whether God will remain silent.
- Psalm 74:7 (BSB)“They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground; they have defiled the dwelling place of Your Name.”Another lament grieves that the sanctuary has been burned, the same loss 64:11 lays before God.
- Psalm 79:1 (BSB)“A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.”Asaph laments that Jerusalem has been reduced to rubble, as 64:10 describes.
- Psalm 44:23 (BSB)“Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.”The psalmist calls on the Lord to wake and not reject His people forever, the same plea as 64:12.