Oh that You Would Rend the Heavens

A Sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church on the First Sunday of Advent, November, 30, 2008 @ The Convent Chapel of St. Mary's Medical Center, Hungtington, WV and based on Isaiah 64:1-9

Isaiah and the Contemporary Experience
Sometimes we read a portion of Scripture and it just jumps out at us. The language is so contemporary and so vivid it grabs us and captures our imagination. I think that's the case with today's reading from Isaiah. When we compare what is happening in the world with the situation that Isaiah was speaking into, we can easily relate. Basically, we're in trouble. The world economy looks as if it's headed into serious crisis. The world political situation is unstable. The attempts that people are making to fix things seem as if they're getting us in deeper and all the while, the world seems to be moving farther and farther from God. As Christians, we long for God to intervene.

So when Isaiah cries out, “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down...we can relate. We say “Yes, Lord! Come Down! Just like you did at Mt. Sinai when your presence caused the mountain to quake. Make your Name known to your adversaries. Cause the nations to tremble at your presence! Come and reveal yourself! We are desperate for you! Reveal yourself; Just like at Sinai...

Yes...that was when God told Moses to bring the people to the foot of the mountain to meet Him. God descended on the mountain in fire and smoke. He spoke to the people in thunder, flashes of lightening and with the sound of a trumpet. He gave Moses the Ten Commandments. ...And the people thought they were all going to die! They said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” (Ex. 20:19).

Moses tries to comfort the people by telling them not to be afraid, and tells them that “God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin. (v.20). But in spite of his attempts to calm them, “the people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.”

...Well, maybe on second thought that wasn't such a good idea... Sounds pretty scary. God seems to be pretty serious about this Sin thing.

Grief over Sin
Just as the people of Israel were aware of the danger of approaching a Holy God face to face, so too the passage from Isaiah reflects an awareness of not measuring up. While God is happy to meet the righteous person who obeys Him in all His ways (Is. 64:5), yet he is angry with sin...'Speaking for the people, Isaiah continues, “and in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? Acknowledging their woeful condition. Isaiah says, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.” (vv.6,7).

Sounds pretty contemporary doesn't it? As we apply this to the situation in our nation right now, we don't have to look much farther than the newspaper- or Internet headlines to see that we're pretty much in the same boat.

Our entire financial system is on the verge of collapse because of the desire to get something for nothing. Politicians have set us up for failure in order to get power. Financial brokers have milked the system for fat commissions, and people have tried to buy properties they could not afford – all the while thinking that the laws of nature have been suspended, that gravity had somehow taken a holiday. Greed has driven the system and now we're about to commit idolatry on top of it by looking to government to be God and deliver us from our travail.

If this weren't bad enough, we are a promiscuous people who demand to have unfettered sex, and we have the blood of millions of innocent unborn children on our hands – our pathetic attempt to get rid of the inconvenient limits to our own freedom. All this and more... and shall we be saved?

Fasting and Preparation for the Coming of Christ
But Isaiah recognizes there is a basis for mercy: “O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay and you are our potter. We are all the work of your hand. Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.” (vv. 8,9).

If the people of Israel had a basis for mercy in the Fatherhood of God, how much more should we as Christians, who have been redeemed with the blood of the Lamb, trust in God's mercy and plead with him for deliverance?

Each Sunday we come to this table, confessing our sins and partaking of the body and blood of our Lord in the confident expectation that our sins have been forgiven and that God does indeed feed us with the spiritual food of the body and blood of His own dear Son. But that does not let us off the hook completely as a people. We are still in need of God's grace in regard to our own personal struggles with sin, as well as our corporate sins as a nation, and even as a global community. We are no where near ready for God to rend the heavens and come down to this sinful world of ours. We would be just like the Israelites – quaking in our boots for fear of the righteous God and His judgment on our sins.

That's why, during Advent and Lent, we make time to prepare ourselves for His coming, to fast and to pray, to rend our hearts, so that when He does come, we may be ready. It's also possible for us, as God's people, to avert disaster in our nation through our prayers and intercessions. The much quoted verses from II Chronicles chapter 7 still apply today: “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (vv. 13,14).

Keep in mind that these verses were spoken in the context of Solomon consecrating the finished Temple for the worship of God. The prayer referred to in the passage is the prayer offered in the Temple; prayer that God promises to see and hear.

By extension, that means that we, as the worshiping people of God, have a particular responsibility to intercede, not only for ourselves, but for our neighbors and our nation.

Mission and Evangelism:
“If MY people, who are called by MY name...shall pray... The responsibility rests upon us who pray! Therefore we should pray!

We should pray for our own cleansing, and to become increasingly more like Christ. We should pray for our national, state and local leaders. And we should pray for our families, our friends, and for those of our acquaintances who do not know the Lord. After all, you know people whom I will never meet, and vice versa. Those people are your mission field, the ones for whom God expects us to pray and to whom He expects us to witness.

An excellent adjunct to our prayers of Advent preparation is fasting. Though we as Christians are not required to fast as the Old Testament believers were, yet it seems clear that Jesus expected his disciples to fast (Mt. 6:16). Fasting is a discipline that builds our character and our faith. By not eating for a specified time, we are telling God that we seek His kingdom and his righteousness first, ( Mt. 6:33) putting our bodily needs second. ( After this past week, our bodies can well afford to be put second for a time!)
In this way, we show God we are serious about our prayer intentions.

In the Western tradition, Wednesdays are a day of fasting and Fridays are a day of abstinence from meat. I suggest that we include some fasting in our Advent discipline this year, either according to this traditional formulation, or one that might work better for you personally. Perhaps you would also want to abstain from some aspect of the World during this time, such as not watching a TV program you enjoy, or cutting short your sleep so that you can get up earlier and pray. Any of these things fulfill the spirit of Fasting.

By leaving off something, we make room for Jesus and for the prayer to which we are called as God's people. It's not too much to suggest that this prayer is the basis for our Evangelism program. Join me in this discipline and let us know how it goes for you. I'm sure that if observe a fast as unto the Lord, that you will be blessed. Also let us know how it goes as you pray for those around you. Let's make this a time of not only making room for Jesus ourselves, but for helping others to do so as well. AMEN.