Rend The Heavens - Come Lord Jesus !

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: