Scripture: Isaiah 64:1-9; John 1:1-18
Theme: Isaiah’s Prayer
Title: Rend the Heavens – Come, Lord Jesus!
This sermon looks at the Prophet’s Prayer – 1. A Prayer with Passion and Purpose 2. A Prayer Answered in Jesus 3. A Prayer that Leans Into the Second Coming
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit!
I want to talk to you today about inviting and experiencing God’s Presence in our Lives, in the Life of our Church and in Our Communities at large.
How many of you as we read Isaiah chapter 64:1-9 wanted to join in with the words and wishes of the Prophet Isaiah’s prayer?
How many of us would love for God to show up today as He did in the days of Moses, in the Days of King David and as He did in the days of Daniel?
How many of us would love for God to show up and rend the heavens?
How many of us would love for God to show up and shake a few mountain tops?
How many of us would love for God to show up and cause a few world leaders to shake and tremble?
I think right now there are more than a few that would like to see God show up and shake up quite a number of things. I know here in the United States we could use a LORD GOD ALMIGHTY shake up and I am sure all around the world there are many that would like to see the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY come down and shake things up.
This morning, let’s look at Isaiah’s prayer and see how we can both invite God and experience a few supernatural shake ups in our lives, the life of our church and in our communities.
I. The Prophet Prays with Passion and Purpose
When you read Isaiah chapter 64 you don’t find a namby-pamby prayer. It is not a weak, half-hearted or indecisive prayer. What you find is the exact opposite.
Isaiah comes before the LORD with great passion and purpose. He comes before the LORD with great longing for God’s Presence. He has put everything else to the side and is putting all of his strength into pleading for the LORD to come down to bring rescue and redemption.
Isaiah’s words are words of action – rend the heavens, that the mountain might quake and fires that kindle brushwood and cause water pots to boil.
His words are words that plead for the LORD to come down experientially. Isaiah is not interested in having a theological discussion about God. Isaiah is not interested in having a mere planning meeting on how to do church better. Isaiah cries out for the immediate presence of God to be felt all around him.
Isaiah is a man who is well versed in the Torah and in the history books of Israel. He knows the stories of the Exodus and how the LORD brought Egypt to her knees. He knows the story of the Crossing of the Red Sea, the manna that fell from heaven and the Law that was brought down from the mountain top.
Isaiah has read the story of when the LORD caused the sun to stand still for Joshua to win the battle against the Amorites. He has studied the scriptures that tell about the times that the LORD came down and won all those battles for Gideon and later for Deborah and Barak. He has read the story of how the LORD took a small shepherd boy and defeated Goliath and the Philistines.
In other words, Isaiah knew the Holy Scriptures. The more he read and studied the scriptures the more his passion grew for experiencing God’s Presence. The same can be true in our lives as well. The deeper we get into the Word the more we will find ourselves wanting to increasingly experience God’s Presence in our lives and in the world around us.
Isaiah was also a man who had experienced God’s Presence in his life. We see this outlined in Isaiah chapter six. Isaiah sees God’s throne, he witnesses angelic beings all around him and he is touched by God Himself as he experiences his heart, mind and soul being cleansed.
Once you have experienced God’s goodness there is something inside of you that wants even more. One touch of God will forever change your life and it will also leave you hungering for even more.
One of the questions we must ask ourselves is – Do we have a passion for the LORD to show up in our lives?
+Does our passion to experience God in our lives override our fears?
+Does our passion to experience God override our personal agendas?
Can we join in with the Psalmist who writes:
“As a deer paints for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” – Psalm 42:1-2
“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” – Psalm 63:1
It is easy today, especially today in the midst of all that is going on to say that we want to experience God but then not really be passionate about asking God to come down. It is easy today to become more like the Church of Ephesus who “lost their first love” or the Church of Laodicea who “became lukewarm”.
However, today is not the day to avoid the Church but the very opposite. Today is not the day to abandon prayer meetings but the very opposite. Today is not the day to give in to fear, apathy or depression but the very opposite.
In 1735, Rev. Jonathan Edwards wrote about what was happening all over the New England area. Revival was in the air. The LORD was showing up in amazing ways. People were coming to faith. Families were being restored. Hundreds were being healed. More and more people were being anointed by the Holy Spirit. It was a time of a great awakening.
None of that happened by mistake. It happened because the Church was confessing, repenting and praying. It happened because the Church was standing on the Word of God. It happened because the Church was proclaiming the truth that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, the Son of God and the Savior of the World. It happened because the Church was being constantly renewed and infilled with God’s Holy Spirit.
That is what we desperately need today.
We live in a time when the Church has had a tendency to get more involved in politics than it does in prayer. We live in a time when the Church has had a tendency to see how close to the line of the world it can live and still retain its identity in Christ. We live in a time when the Church more and more wants to shy away from the supernatural, the infilling presence of the Holy Spirit and the fact that as Christ followers we are called to be Holy.
We need to heed the advice that the Apostle Paul gave Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6-7
“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on my hands. For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
Today is not the day to let the doors of the Church close while the doors of Wal-mart stand open. Today is not the day to let the streets be filled with protesters while the pews of the Church remain empty. Today is not the day to let the noise of politics drown out the prayers and the message of the Good News.
The Prophet comes towards God with passion and purpose. The Prophet has studied and he has experienced God in the past and now he wants to experience God again. He is ready to do all that is necessary to bring God’s Presence into our world.
Are we?
II. A Prayer Answered in Jesus
What the Prophet so desperately desired to take place happened in the life of Jesus.
Listen again to the words of John chapter one:
“And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – verse 14
“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” – verse 17
“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” – verse 18
The heavens were rendered when the angel Gabriel came to talk to Mary. The heavens were rendered when Mary became pregnant with the Son of God. The heavens were rendered when the shepherds heard the news of Jesus’ birth from the angels. The heavens were rendered when John the Baptist proclaim to the world that Jesus is the lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world.
The Apostle John wrote his gospel late in his life. That is important for us to understand. He did not write it just a few days after Jesus called him to follow Him on the sea shore. He did not write it a few days after the Sermon on the Mount.
John walked with Jesus. John ate with Jesus. John followed Jesus for 3 ½ years while Jesus was on this earth. John listened to Jesus’ words. John saw Jesus walk on water, feed the 5,000 and raise Lazarus from the dead. John watched as Jesus appeared to him on Resurrection Sunday. John watched as Jesus was lifted up into the air to sit at the right hand of the Father. John experienced the infilling presence of God’s Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.
What John shares about Jesus was revealed to him over time. He saw, He experienced and He came to understand that God had literally come down in Jesus. He came to understand that Jesus was God’s only Son. He came to understand that Jesus was Lord of Lord and King of Kings.
Because of Jesus, we must look at Isaiah’s prayer in a whole new light. What the Prophet was praying for has already happened in an amazing way.
Moses saw the back of God. Isaiah saw the train of His robe. Daniel saw one who looked like the Son of God.
But 2,000 years ago the heavens were opened and Gabriel shared with Mary the news that she was to bear the Christ Child. The Son of God would come and dwell among us. He would come to share the Good News. He would come to show us what it would look like to live without sin. He would come to rescue us and redeem us. He would come so that we could be born from above and filled with His Holy Spirit.
In many ways then our prayers for God’s Presence are to be radically different than those prayed by Isaiah. What Isaiah desired and passionately prayed for our world has already taken place. God has come down in Jesus.
Our prayers are to line more up with the prayers that were being prayed by the Early Church in Acts chapter 4 –
“And now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are preformed though the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” – Acts 4:29-31
Today, we need the infilling presence of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives. We need to surrender everything over – our hearts, minds and souls to the Holy Spirit. We need to ask for boldness to preach the Word. We need to ask for signs and wonders to be performed by God through His Church; through us.
We are not the people of Isaiah’s time. We are post resurrection people. We are people of Pentecost. We are people who can hold God’s Word in our hand and who can be filled and empowered by His Holy Spirit.
Because of that we take a different view of the world around us. While we still battle against the spirit of this age and evil principalities we do so knowing that in Christ we can have compete and ultimate victory.
This radically transforms how we approach life today. We listen to the news but we don’t get caught up into its web of lies and propaganda. We watch the events of the day but we don’t get overwhelmed with its agenda. We even do our best to stay well and healthy but we don’t allow disease, chaos or division to diminish our love, our joy or our peace.
We don’t hide from the world. We do the very opposite. We intercede for the world. We gather together and pray for our families, our friends and our communities. We share the true message of Jesus Christ as Savior, Redeemer and LORD. We allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us and through us.
The world needs us more than ever. The world needs what we can bring to the table. It needs pastors, teachers, leaders and church members to stand up for the Truth, to intercede for others and to be conduits for God to use to bring about healing and wholeness.
It needs this because the Bible tells us that Jesus is Coming Back.
III. A Prayer that Leans into the Second Coming
Isaiah prayed for God to come and God came in the person of Jesus.
Jesus came as Rescuer, Redeemer and Lord.
Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to infill us, empower us and enable us to live a Victorious Christ-centered life.
And now in the power of His Holy Spirit we live the Abundant Life.
In the power of His Holy Spirit we enjoy the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
In the power of His Holy Spirit we fulfill the Great Commission that He gave us.
In the power of His Holy Spirit we enjoy an intimate oneness with the LORD.
In the power of His Holy Spirit we enjoy a oneness with one another.
In the power of His Holy Spirit we transform the very atmosphere of our lives, our families and our communities.
And in the power of His Holy Spirit we lean into the Second Coming of our Savior and LORD Jesus Christ.
The prophet prays for the heavens to rend apart, for the mountains to quake and for the world to witness the power of God’s coming.
We do as well as we wait for God’s Second Coming.
All one has to do is to turn to Revelation chapter 19 and read it words to understand that one day what the Prophet prayed for will be completely fulfilled. There is coming a day when Jesus will come back as the Rider on the White Horse. There is coming a day when the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will make all things right. There is coming a day of righteousness and judgment that the world has never seen before.
And it is in light of that day that we do the same thing that the people who created the Jim Beam Company have done.
Now, I am not an advocate of Jim Beam or their products. But the words of their commercial caught my attention. Jim Beam started producing alcoholic beverages back in 1795 and for the past 225 years they have been building their empire. Today they are considered as the #1 producer of fine Kentucky Bourbon whiskey.
In their commercial, they are careful to point out that they have built an empire over the last 225 years but they are not resting on the past. They are not resting on their laurels. Instead, they are building for the next 225 years. Their focus is not on the past but on the future and they see their future as bright.
That is a great way to look at life. We are to learn from the past but to live for the future.
That is the way it is for us who follow Christ.
We love to look at the stories of the past. We love to share the stories of Abraham, Moses, King David, Esther, Mary and the Apostle Paul. We love to share the stories of Clement of Alexandria, Augustine, St. Catherine, Martin Luther, John Calvin and Susanna Wesley. We love to share the stories of Jonathan Edwards, Pheobe Palmer and Billy Graham.
But as we rejoice in our heritage we cannot rest on our heritage. Ours is not the message of yesterday but of today and tomorrow.
We are to look towards the future. For it is out in the future that we will witness the Second Coming of Our Savior and LORD, Jesus Christ. It is in the future that we will share together the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is in the future that we will see and experience a New Heaven and a New Earth.
And so because we lean into the Second Coming we live in victory. Because we lean into the Second Coming we rejoice and sing God’s praises. Because we lean into the Second Coming we get busy praying, sharing and becoming one in the LORD. Because of the Second Coming we proclaim to the world that Jesus is Lord. Because of the Second Coming we stay awake, we stay diligent and we continue to build God’s Kingdom here on earth.
What a prayer the Prophet shares.
He challenges us to be people passionate and purposeful in bringing God’s Kingdom to pass here on the earth.
He challenges us to receive Jesus Christ as our Rescuer, Redeemer and LORD.
He challenges us to live a life of leaning into the Second Coming.
This morning, have you received Jesus into your heart and life as your Savior and LORD? Have you allowed Him to forgive you of your sins and enable you to be Born Again? Have you allowed Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit?
Are you living a life above all the mess that we see around us? Are you passionately praying for yourself, your family, your friends and your community? Are you living as if Jesus could come back today?
Open Altar/Prayer/Blessings
