Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction to

Along with chapter 65, this is God’s answer to Isaiah’s prayer, which is recorded in .

is the last chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah.

In this chapter God continues to answer the prayer of Isaiah that is found in .

Isaiah prays,

“Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!”

(, ESV)

64 pOh that you would rend the heavens and come down,

qthat the mountains might quake at your presence—

2  1 as when fire kindles brushwood

and the fire causes water to boil—

rto make your name known to your adversaries,

“Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!”

(, ESV)

“Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!”

(, ESV)

and that the nations might tremble at your presence!

p [; ; ]

q ;

Isaiah is lamenting the state of apostasy and rebellion against the Lord that he sees among his fellow Israelites.

He appeals to God to come down from heaven in might, with shock and awe, and visible signs of his majesty and glory.

The reason Isaiah prays for this is because he thinks that if God would come down with such a show of might, with great signs and wonders, then surely his enemies, the unfaithful Israelites, and others, would know the he is God and tremble at his presence.

1 Ch 64:1 in Hebrew

r [, ]

I don’t know if you have ever thought the same as Isaiah–I know I have.

There have been so many times that I have thought to myself that if God would perform some great sign or wonder, then maybe more people would recognize that he is God.

It is a very human way of thinking about things.

We tend to respond to and respect might and power and shows of strength.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

But this is not necessarily how God works.

His ways are not our ways.

Often, God works under the appearance of opposites.

The wicked seem to prosper and the righteous suffer.

The innocent die and the guilty go free.

Right is regarded as wrong and wrong celebrated as right.

It appears to our human eyes and reasoning that God isn’t doing anything, or not much at all.

But God has promised not only present salvation to his people through his Son, Jesus Christ, but also final salvation and the new heavens and the new earth.

And God is at work accomplishing his purposes whether or not we can discern what he is doing.

We walk by faith and not by sight this side of Christ’s second coming.

gives us a glimpse into these things.

The One to Whom I [the LORD] Will Look

The One to Whom I [the LORD] Will Look: The humble and contrite in spirit

Those who are humble and contrite in spirit are those who recognize their sinfulness and their need for God’s mercy and forgiveness

Those who tremble at the Word of God are those who receive his Word with reverence and in faith

God seems to be responding to those who think that they can procure his favor by the splendor of their buildings.

They seem to think that they have built the temple as if God needed such a building from them.

Instead of being the place where God dispensed his gifts of grace, it became a place that demonstrated human accomplishment and became, in essence, their gift to God. (Lessing, 456)

God responds by asking the question,

“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?

All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be” ()

Imagine it, if you can: heaven is the throne of God and the earth his footstool.

How immense and massive is God!

He fills the universe and sits down on the heavens as if it were his throne.

And he places his feet upon the earth as upon a footstool.

What is any building constructed by us compared with that?

How foolish we are to think that any building can contain God or that he would be impressed with the dim majesty of our most grandiose buildings.

And yet, as we will see, God does indeed condescend to come down to us and meet us even in our most humble of buildings when he comes to us in Word and Sacrament.

God is present with us in his Word and our Lord Jesus is present with us also in the Holy Sacrament.

God has indeed come down to us, but this is his gift, not on account of our impressive building and construction skills.

So often we think that God will have regard for the rich and powerful, or for the “spiritual all-stars.”

Or if we have thousands of people attend our church or our building is massive and top-notch, the best there is.

If people like Joel Osteen are to be believed, and he shouldn’t be believed, but if he is to be believed, God has regard for you when you basically demand that God bless you–with material wealth and prosperity, of course–and this brash, arrogant demanding of God’s blessing is somehow thought to be faith.

And we’re tempted to believe that they speak the truth because they’re popular, wealthy, they don’t seem to have problems, they look good with their high-end clothes and cars, and they pack out a professional sports arena week after week.

We are often tempted to chase after people like that and so often we try to be like them.

But such buildings and people are not impressive to God.

He will not have regard for those who despise and ignore his Word.

God is not impressed with money, large buildings, fancy cars, a great following among the masses, well-tailored and delivered speeches and gripping emotional appeals.

None of these things are impressive to God or incline him to give any gracious attention to you.

No, God says this in ,

“But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and [who] trembles at my word.”

The one who is humble and contrite in spirit is the one who recognizes, according to the Word of God, that he or she has nothing to offer God that would incline God to give gracious attention to him or her.

Such a one recognizes that they live by the gift of God and that they have no righteousness of their own, but are dependent completely upon the righteousness of God in Christ.

The one who is contrite in spirit knows that they have sinned against God and deserve nothing but his temporal and eternal punishment.

They acknowledge their sins and sinful condition through confessing their sins before God.

We could also speak of this condition as the poverty of spirit.

They are the “bruised reeds” and “dimly burning wicks” that Isaiah speaks of in chapter 42:3, in which he also declares that the chosen Servant of God, Jesus Christ, will not break or snuff out.

It is not the one who exalts himself or herself to heaven before God, but the one who is lowly and humbles himself or herself before the Lord in confession of sin and repentance.

This is the one to whom the Lord will look with compassion and kindness.

The one who is humble and contrite in spirit also trembles at the Word of the Lord.

This trembling speaks of a proper reverence and fear toward God–not so much the fear of punishment kind of fear, but reverence and respect, acknowledging God to be God, instead of exalting ourselves as gods.

The one who properly fears and reverences the Lord will hear and give attention to his holy Word.

Those who are humble and contrite in spirit and tremble at the Word of the Lord are the faithful people of God who trust his Word, and they are variously described in Scripture as God’s servants, his chosen ones, and his people who seek him.

(Lessing, 459) In short, they are God’s chosen people to whom he has granted faith in his Son, the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

And that includes you, saints of God in his congregation here at St. Luke’s.

Think about it: the God of the universe, who created all that exists, both that which is visible and invisible, who dwells in heaven in unapproachable light, turns his gracious gaze toward you.

Instead of gazing on the splendor of the planets and galaxies and solar systems that he created, he turns his gracious gaze to you.

(Lessing, 459)

This verse is one of comfort to those who are “the afflicted, the broken in spirit, and those who tremble at [the Lord’s] Word.” (Lessing, 459) How amazing it is and comforting, too, that the God who cannot be contained by any temple or building made by human hands condescends to us, his lowly, chosen people who by his grace trust his Word and acknowledge our sins and sinfulness and are forgiven by the blood of Jesus.

The Lord will Judge His Enemies

Even if it seems like the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer, God will execute judgment upon those who reject the Lord and his Word

Syncretism is the mixing of orthodox (right) worship of the one true God with the worship of anyone or anything else

In these verses, God describes the wicked, his enemies.

We see in this passage what is called “syncretism.”

Syncretism is mixing the worship of God with idolatry.

And so a man slaughters an ox–appropriate in the context of offering sacrifice to God as he commanded–and he also kills a man–a clear and capital violation of God’s commandment not to murder and an assault on God himself, for human beings are the image-bearers of God.

The other comparisons reinforce the same point: sacrificing a lamb is appropriate, killing a dog is barbaric.

A grain offering is good, pig’s blood was an abomination because pigs were unclean animals under the Old Covenant.

A memorial offering is good, blessing or seeking a blessing from an idol is, of course, idolatry.

The Lord says that these apostates, these ungodly rebels, have

“chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations…when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did what was evil in my eyes and chose that in which I did not delight.”