A Visitation from Heaven

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This is a sermon that was preached at Wayside Community Church on July 1, 2012. The message was based on the text of Isaiah 64:1.

Written Excerpts:

Introduction:

As I began to seek the Lord’s will for today’s message, I was thinking about the national holiday coming up this week (July 4^th – Independence Day). I was thinking about the founding of this nation and about many of the problems that face us today.

I have been saying from this pulpit for many weeks and months that we need a genuine spiritual awakening in America. With the landmark rulings from the US Supreme Court this week regarding the Arizona immigration law and the national healthcare law, I personally believe it has become more evident that our nation is on the fast track to destruction. I know that I am probably speaking to some people here today that do not agree with that assessment, but I’m being honest with you about how I see it and how I feel.

Regardless of the rulings from the court this week, there is plenty of evidence that demonstrates the fact that our country has departed far from the ways of the Lord and the ways of morality and righteousness that it was founded upon. But I remind us today that several of those founding fathers of our nation clearly proclaimed at the beginning that our form of government was designed for a moral people; for a godly people; a people guided by biblical convictions of behavior.

We have an abundance of political leaders today who argue that we are witnessing the failure of capitalism. Well, if it is a failure, I can tell you why it is. It is because we are no longer a nation of predominantly righteous and moral individuals. Therefore I concur with what many Christian leaders have been saying, as well as some political leaders – there is no hope for the future of America outside of a genuine, nation-wide, spiritual awakening and renewal of faith and morality.

I don’t have a copy of the book yet, but Joel Rosenberg, a prominent Christian author, has recently published a book called Implosion. I’ve been reading some comments about the book on his internet site. In his book, he develops the argument that America is on a course to implode financially, morally, etc. But, he also reminds us that there is hope. And that hope is the same hope that rescued our nation in the past – it is another great awakening of spiritual life and a genuine revival of Christian faith.

As I was contemplating these subjects, I was reminded of the prayer in Isaiah that I have mentioned a moment ago. I truly believe that Isaiah’s prayer that is recorded in chapter 64 is a prayer that would be relevant for us to pray in our day today. Isaiah was praying for a special “visitation from heaven” -- a genuine revival or spiritual awakening sent from God.

Transition:

I would propose to you that this is our greatest need today in this nation, in this community, in this church, and in my own life – a visitation from heaven.

As we consider the kind of visitation for which Isaiah prayed I want to notice the:

I.   Existing Conditions

II.  Expression of Desperation

III. Expected Result

I.     First, let us consider the existing conditions in which Isaiah uttered this prayer.

There are numerous descriptions that we could give regarding the conditions in Judah and Israel leading up to Isaiah’s prophecy.

Listen to this description provided in the book, Exploring the Old Testament, edited by WT Purkiser.

The Nations of Judah and Israel were both fearfully facing the possibility of invasion from their enemies – the Assyrians. There were deplorable social conditions – the poor and widows were being oppressed, all sorts of economic crimes were perpetrated, Jerusalem became a hothouse of factions and intrigue, the custodians of law abused their powers, prophets were flattering and catering to the rich, and the lust of wealth ruled on all sides, commercialism and materialism were supplanting almost the last vestige of everything ethical and spiritual.

Sound familiar? Let me read it again with some of the words changed and see if you think I’m accurate or off base.

The USA fearfully faces the possibility of invasion from terrorists crossing over unguarded borders. There are deplorable social conditions – the poor and widows are being oppressed, all sorts of economic crimes are perpetrated, Washington has become a hothouse of factions and intrigue, the custodians of law abuse their powers, pastors are flattering and catering to the rich, and the lust of wealth rules on all sides, commercialism and materialism replaces almost the last vestige of everything ethical and spiritual.

Read 63:18 and 64:10-11 for a further description of conditions.

Isaiah 63:18-19 (NKJV)
¹⁸ Your holy people have possessed it but a little while; Our adversaries have trodden down Your sanctuary. ¹⁹ We have become like those of old, over whom You never ruled, Those who were never called by Your name.

Isaiah 64:10-11 (KJV)
¹⁰ Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. ¹¹ Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.

If there was any place on the face of the earth that was ripe for a fresh visitation from God, it was Judah and Israel.

Sometimes we look around at the darkness and wickedness, and we get so caught up in discouragement and despair we forget that these are the conditions into which God desires to display His almighty power. We forget that these days aren’t all that different from the circumstances preceding the great revivals in the past.

The Anglican minister, John Wesley, visited a city named Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England. After his visit he responded, “I was surprised: so much drunkenness, cursing and swearing (even from the mouths of little children) do I never remember to have seen and heard before, in so small a compass of time. Surely this place is ripe for Him who ‘came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’”

Societies decay and become rampant with crime and wickedness when people forsake God. “Out there” in the world is not the only place where social and moral decay has set in. Conditions in the church or professing community of faith are not much better. But we can return to God and watch His supernatural power begin to reform our nation through the grace of God that is working in the individual lives of its citizens.

II.     Secondly, notice the expression of desperation.

A. Desperation is expressed in the use of the interjection: “Oh.”

The Hebrew word is a particle that can be translated: “If only that!” “Oh that” or “Would that.”

It just seems to me that the way this is structured, Isaiah is expressing a very heavy soul burden and utters a cry of desperation.It implies a cry of distress. Isaiah apparently was so distressed over the existing conditions that this cry seems to burst forth from his lips.

B. Desperation is expressed by the extreme display of power he prays for.

It seems as if Isaiah is asking God to show the greatest display of His power. He’s asking God to go to the limit in showing his presence.

Some writers point out that Isaiah is using poetic and figurative language that should not be understood literally, but none-the-less, he is crying out for God’s supernatural display of power in their behalf.

C. Desperation is expressed in the confession of guilt. (vv. 5b-7)

“…You are indeed angry, for we have sinned-- In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved. ⁶ But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. ⁷ And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities.”

Now, Isaiah was a faithful follower of the Lord and a true prophet of the Lord, but here he is expressing the condition of all the people and he includes himself along with all the rest of them.

When people get desperate for God’s divine and miraculous intervention, we forget about trying to prove all the ways in which we have been good and deserving of God’s grace. When we get desperate for His intervention, we begin to confess our faults, our sins, and our departure from His holy commands and requirements.

Remember, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

III.     Finally, notice the expected results of the prayer.

A. Isaiah expects a tremendous display of God’s omnipotence.

vv. 1,2a, 3.  Descriptions provided here seem to correspond to the events of Mount Sinai.

Compare these references:

Exodus 19:18 (NKJV) ¹⁸ Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

Judges 5:5 (NKJV) ⁵ The mountains gushed before the LORD, This Sinai, before the LORD God of Israel.

Psalm 68:8 (NKJV) ⁸ The earth shook; The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God; Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

I really don’t know if Isaiah is wanting/expecting God to do the exact same thing as then, but the least we can say is that he is expecting some kind of revelation of God’s power.

B. Isaiah expects the enemies to notice God’s actions.

v. 2b.  “to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!”

At a time when Israel and Judah are being attacked and oppressed by their enemies, Isaiah calls upon the Omnipotent God of heaven to “make a name for Himself.”

Today, there are many enemies of the church and the cause of Jesus Christ. We need a tremendous display of God’s power that will silence the enemies of the cross.

We need a Pentecostal-style revival of the Holy Spirit that will cleanse away sin and impurity in the church and set her on fire with passion for the lost like the early disciples experienced until people begin to say that we too are “turning the world upside down.”

Conclusion:

I don’t know about you, but I have a hunger to see a divine manifestation of God’s power and presence. However, such a manifestation will more than likely not just happen. It will require someone getting a burden like that of Isaiah’s. It will require prayer and earnest seeking after God. It will require the people of God getting desperate enough to miss a few meals in order to pray; or to miss a few TV programs in order to pray. It will require obedience to the Lord – whatever He wants us to do.

May the Lord help us to stand in the place of intercession like the prophet.