Isaiah 64:1-8 - Don't Rely on Rags
- Chad Werkhoven
- Oct 14
- 4 min read
Even the best you can do is like filthy rags. And that's good news!
Isaiah 64:1–8 (NIV)
64 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!
2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
and cause the nations to quake before you!
3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
4 Since 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.
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to our sins.
8 Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD;
do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look on us, we pray,
for we are all your people.
Canons of Dordt
Point 5 - Perseverance of the Saints
Article 3: God’s Preservation of the Converted
Because of
these remnants of sin dwelling in them
and also because of the temptations of the world and Satan,
those who have been converted
could not remain standing in this grace
if left to their own resources.
But God is faithful,
mercifully strengthening them in the grace once conferred on them
and powerfully preserving them in it to the end.
Summary
We've seen over and over as we've read the Bible together that one of the most fundamental components of our prayers is acknowledging who God is. Doing so reminds us of God's glorious and powerful attributes as we come to Him in prayer, giving us a peace producing confidence that He has control over every situation. That's why acknowledgement, the first 'A' of our triple A prayer pattern, so often comes at the beginning of prayers, as it sets the tone for everything that follows.
In many ways the first seven verses of today's passage - this prayer Isaiah composed - comprise a giant lead in to the formal acknowledgement of God that culminates in v8: Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
A couple of things stand out about Isaiah's extended acknowledgement. First, Isaiah flips the script on the way we so often pray. Our prayer - which Jesus taught us! - is often for God to deliver us from evil and from the situations which press us down. Isaiah, however, also inspired by the Holy Spirit, prays for the opposite. Rather than simply asking to be lifted out of life's misery, Isaiah begs God to rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble!
Isaiah's short opening overture captures the entire message of scripture. Certainly our Father does deliver us from evil and from a host of pestilences, persecutions and problems, but the Bible doesn't end with God simply evacuating His children from this sin infested globe. Rather, it ends with the heavens rent open, the mountains trembling and the nations quaking as the Lord victoriously comes down to act on behalf of those who wait for Him.
Dig Deeper
It's the other aspect that stands out in Isaiah's acknowledgement that draws our attention today. Indeed, one of the primary reasons the Bible teaches us to make acknowledging God such a primary part of our prayer is that doing so causes us to see ourselves as we truly relate to God (which is the primary function of religion).
As Isaiah contemplates the LORD's glory coming to the help of those who gladly do right, it becomes immediately apparent to him that on our own, we are not people who gladly do right. Rather, we continue to sin... all of us have become like one who is unclean. And it's not just our weak lapses that convict us, even our righteous acts are like filthy rags!
All of this sounds so familiar from when we worked our way through the ugly doctrines of total depravity several months ago. Yet the Canons bring us back to our pathetic inability to follow God's simple commands here again today, not just to clobber us one more time, but to help lay the foundation for the massive comfort we call the perseverance of the saints.
Isaiah had it figured out hundreds of years before Christ was even born. After seeing fallen humanity in the reflection of God's holiness, Isaiah cries out how then can we be saved?!? The Canons summarize the whole of scripture to answer his question. Even those who have been converted could not remain standing in this grace if left to their own resources. But God is faithful, mercifully strengthening them in the grace once conferred on them and powerfully preserving them in it to the end.
In other words, acknowledging our depravity in the light of God's holiness makes it clear that God's grace is far stronger than we are, and reminds us that we are preserved by His strength, not ours.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: You, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that through God's preserving grace you will strive to lay hold of Him;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 1 Peter 4
