He Rends the Heavens and Comes Down
Is. 64:1-9
December 3, 2017 – Redeemer
Oh, that the Lord would rend the heavens and come down.
That’s what the Israelites wanted. That is what Isaiah prophesied. A couple hundred years after Isaiah lived God’s children found themselves living in a godless land. Their once great nation was but a remnant. Where once the temple overflowed with worshippers, now there were only a few who even remembered the temple. The good old hymns of Zion sung to the Lord were no longer sung. Now the people were captive to the false gods of Babylon. There were only a few who stood faithful and refused to compromise – you might remember their names – Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Ezra, Nehemiah. The faithful of Israel looked around at their decimated denomination and cried out to the Lord, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.”
God’s people had literally been taken captive. Isaiah prophesied around the year 740 B.C. About 150 years later, in 586 B.C., the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and they were taken captive by the Babylonians. After forty years of captivity the Israelites thought the Lord had forgotten His people. Why doesn’t He save us? Why hasn’t He redeemed us? Why won’t He show Himself as He did when His people were captive in Egypt? O Lord, rend the heavens and come down.
It’s not hard to relate to the Israelites. We live in a captive nation – captivated to the false gods of the land. Most Americans do not worship God – that’s why you can get to church on Sunday morning far quicker than you got to the mall on Black Friday. I visited a woman the other day who was watching her granddaughter. I asked the little girl (about 6 years old) if she knew who Jesus was. She had never heard of him. The Temples of the Lord are empty – but the temples of our Babylon are getting ever bigger – drive by the stadiums, arenas, and gymnasiums. A few weeks ago I read an article entitled, “Inside America’s Largest Religious Revival You Know Nothing About.” The author satirically wrote that while every religion in America is declining, one religion is alive, well, and growing by every measure. The author nicknamed this new religion “Athletica” – sports. Consider how you would measure a successful religion and then apply it to sports. Parents willing to sacrifice. Check. Religious instruction (practice) five nights a week and at the dinner table. Mandatory family attendance at every service (game). Check. Denominational loyalty – team spirit. Check. Instruction in the 10 commandments (that is the rules of the game). Check. Go to the home shows, boat shows, recreation shows. It used to be that church was the only “business” open on a Sunday. Now the only thing you can’t buy on a Sunday is a car – even liquor is more important than church.
Oh, that the Lord would rend the heavens and come down. Oh that He would show the world who’s who like He did back in the days of Pharaoh. Nothing like a fiery cloud and pillar to demonstrate some real power and might. Wouldn’t it be great to see the mightiest enemy of God’s people in shambles, like Pharaoh and His army doing the dead man’s float in the Red Sea?
Watch out what you pray for – especially when you ask God to deal a blow to evil. As soon as the prayer left the lips of God’s children, they realized it was a dangerous prayer. The enemy wasn’t Babylon. The enemy isn’t a godless society. The enemy of God is us. Someone else was not at fault for the Babylonian captivity. God’s children were. “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. 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.” (Isaiah 64:6–7, ESV)
It is a confession we too must make. Why is the temple of the Lord largely forgotten in our society? Because we have often forgotten it and taught our families the same. How has evolutionary teaching led to the common notion that “you can be whatever you feel you are.” If you’re a boy you can be a girl. If you’re a human you can be a cat. If you want to be a mom you don’t need to have a husband. You don’t even need to be a woman. Why is there such evil nonsense? Because we have not taught creation. We have not rejoiced in God’s gifts and taught our daughters to rejoice in Biblical womanhood and our sons to embrace Biblical manhood. Why are sports played on weekends? Because we are willing to play them. Why can you buy liquor on Sundays? Because we want to buy everything else on Sundays. Why is our society captive to the gods of pleasure? Because we worship at those altars often. Maybe we don’t want the Lord to rend the heavens and come down. It might be us doing the dead man’s float in the Red Sea.
In Isaiah’s prophecy the Lord answered His children’s prayer, but not with might and power. He answered with a Persian King named Cyrus, who conquered the Babylonians, and then let Israel go. Men like Ezra and Nehemiah left captivity and returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and the temple stone by stone. No power. No might. Simply the gift of freedom and a return to rebuild Jerusalem.
Their salvation under Cyrus points ahead to our salvation under Christ. When Jesus came into Jerusalem the crowds cried out “Hosanna.” That word means “Save, now.” Save us now Jesus. Those folks believed that the Lord had torn heaven open and was coming down to save them. Many thought salvation would be Jesus leading a mighty army of followers to throw off the Roman Empire and establish Israel as a nation. God did rend the heavens and come down, but He came as a man, “humble and riding on a donkey.” Jesus never fought Rome or overthrew Caesar or set up any men in great and powerful offices. He battled Satan and humbled Himself under our sins. The only office He set up was the “preaching” office, and boy, doesn’t everyone want that sort of power.
Today we mark the beginning of Advent – and celebrate that the Lord did indeed rend heaven and come down, in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth. If the Lord had come down to do away with sinners He would have done away with us. Instead Jesus came to do away with sin. He answered the prayer of that Palm Sunday crowd by taking away their sin. The enemy you have isn’t the evil out there, but the sin in here. Christ has taken on your enemy, your sin, and He took it away. He died for you His enemy, that you might be His friend, His brother, His sister. You would like Him to take care of evil, instead He has taken care of you – by forgiving your sins. Jesus entered Jerusalem to hang on the cross for the sin of the world, to take away your sin, to save you.
Next Sunday, as Advent continues, we will again meet up with one of the weirdest preachers of Scripture — John the Baptist. He’ll be standing in the Jordan River drowning sinners, not so they die, but so they’ll live. The baptismal font is your Red Sea – it is the mighty act of God, hidden from the world, but visible and prized to faith. In baptism your sinful self was drowned and died with Christ – you get credit for Christ’s death, and then just as Christ was raised from the dead you leave those waters alive. Our prayer of “Hosanna” – Lord rend the heavens and come down to save us is answered when God saves us in the name of Jesus. Amen.