Isa 64:7-12 Thou art Our Potter; and We all are the Work of Your Hand

[Study Aired August 23, 2020]

Isa 64:7  And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
Isa 64:8  But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
Isa 64:9  Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.
Isa 64:10  Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Isa 64:11  Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
Isa 64:12  Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

The Lord here tells us the reason He “has hid His face from us”:

Isa 64:7  And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

The Lord here tells us that He hides His face from us “because of our iniquities.” Throughout scripture we read that it is our sins that cause the Lord to “hide His face from us.” The reason the Lord gives us for destroying all life in the flood of Noah’s time is:

Gen 6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Gen 6:6  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Gen 6:7  And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

The reason we are given us for the destruction of Sodom is:

Gen 18:20  And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
Gen 18:21  I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

The reason given for the Lord rejecting King Saul is:

1Sa 15:10  Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,
1Sa 15:11  It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.

1Sa 15:23  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

The reason we are given for the sword not leaving King David’s house is:

2Sa 12:10  Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

Was it true that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” and this led the Lord to repent of placing mankind on this earth? Of course, that is true! Every imagination of mankind’s heart really was only evil continually.

Was it true that because “[the] sin [of Sodom] was very grievous” that the Lord destroyed Sodom? Yes, that was true! Sodom’s sin was very grievous.

Was King Saul rejected by God because He had rejected the words of the Lord? Yes, of course that was true. King Saul had indeed rejected the Lord’s words.

Had King David really despised the Lord when he took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be his wife? Obviously, King David had despised and disobeyed the word of the Lord.

We could go chronologically through every evil king of both Israel and Judah and show that the reason the Lord was displeased with every one of them was:

1Ki 15:30  Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger.

No one can or should deny that our sins separate us from our God:

Isa 59:2  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Isa 59:3  For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

Look at how similar the words of this 64^th chapter are to these words from the 59^th chapter:

Here is our next verse in this 64^th chapter:

Isa 64:7  And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

These are the very next verses in chapter 59:

Isa 59:4  None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Isa 59:5  They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.

There is no denying that the Lord punishes us for our sins. Here are a few of the verses which drive this Truth home:

Isa 10:12  Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish [H6485: paqad] the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

Isa 13:11  And I will punish [H6485: paqad] the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

Isa 24:21  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish [H6485: paqad] the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

Isa 26:21  For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish [H6485: paqad] the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

Isa 27:1  In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish [H6485: paqad] leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

There is no denying that the Lord punishes us for our sins, but there are also two other Biblical doctrines which are little understood, and those two Biblical doctrines are: 1) the “Lord… makes us to err from His ways, and He hardens our hearts from His fear, and 2) He does so for the very purpose of giving Himself the occasion He is seeking to destroy the kingdom our old man.

The book of Judges and the story of Samson state this Truth very clearly. Contrary as it was to the Lord’s own instructions for the men of Israel never to seek a wife from among the heathen with whom they lived, this is what we are told of why Samson wanted to take a wife of the Philistines:

Jdg 14:1  And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg 14:2  And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
Jdg 14:3  Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

This is not a story which is out of character for God. To the contrary, this is a story which reveals the character of our God. So what is it in this story “that… was of the Lord”? Well, what did we just read?

Jdg 14:1  And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg 14:2  And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
Jdg 14:3  Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.

Didn’t the Lord command Israel not to take wives of the nations around them? Well, yes, He certainly did:

Gen 24:3  And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:

Gen 28:1  And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.

Exo 34:14  For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
Exo 34:15  Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
Exo 34:16  And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.

Ezr 9:10  And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,
Ezr 9:11  Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.
Ezr 9:12  Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.

Neh 13:25  And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.

Samson’s parents knew what Abraham and Isaac had said about marrying the daughters of the land in which they sojourned as strangers. It was strictly forbidden, and yet we are being told of Samson’s desire to marry a Philistine woman… “it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.”

In other words, what Judges 14 tells us about Samson’s sins is the same message King Solomon was inspired of the holy spirit to give us long before Isaiah:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

‘Evil’ and ‘corruption’ are very similar, and we are all “corruption” by virtue of being “shapen in iniquity and… conceived… in sin”:

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

So, when we read:

Isa 64:7  And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

We now must acknowledge that the sum of the Lord’s word reveals that the ultimate cause for the fact that “none calls upon [the Lord’s] name, [nor] stirs up himself to take hold of [the Lord]” we really do so “because you have hid your face from us and have consumed us, because of our iniquities, [which like Samson’s lust for a Philistine wife were] of the Lord [who] is seeking an occasion against [our own carnal-minded old man] for at that time [by the Lord’s design, our rebellious, carnal-minded old man] had dominion over [us]”.

Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Isa 30:27  Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
Isa 30:28  And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Only if we are given to acknowledge that the Lord “creates evil… yes, even the wicked for the day of evil” in our own lives, and that it is He who puts a bridle in our mouths with which He “makes us to err from [His] ways and hardens our hearts from His fear [in] this present time”, that His mercy upon us “is not of him [us] who wills”; only if we acknowledge all of this in this time will we be given to pray this next verse with any degree of conviction:

Isa 64:8  But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

Being a ‘puppet’ is too far from “the Potter’s hand” to be the symbol of how the Lord works His work in the affairs of mankind. Being a puppet is not a Biblical type or shadow of the extent of the Lord’s sovereign work with mankind. The type and shadow of the extent of the Lord’s sovereign hand in our lives is “clay in the hand of The Potter”:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

This is confirmed in the New Covenant:

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Rom 9:24  Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

If any of this is true, then our election has nothing to do with our own power or our own will. The fact is that our election was known to the Lord before the world began, and the scriptures twice plainly state:

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

If we are blessed to be made aware that our God is actually a loving heavenly Father who, like any father who loves His children, will correct and chasten them when it is needed, then we will cry out to our Father:

Isa 64:9  Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.

Knowing that it is the Lord who is working all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11) gives us hope and helps us endure because we know that our trials are all for a good purpose; the purpose of chastening us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live godly lives in this present age.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [G3811: paideuo, chastening] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world [G165, aion, age];
Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Tit 2:15  These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Knowing all of that does not make the pain of dying to our old man any the less painful, neither does it make it any less essential that we must endure to the end the pain of losing our life if we really want to find it.

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world [G2889: kosmos] shall keep it unto life eternal.

As we endure the loss of our lives, we cry out to our heavenly Father:

Isa 64:10  Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Isa 64:11  Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
Isa 64:12  Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

“Our holy and beautiful house where our fathers praised you is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste…” This essentially was King David’s refrain also when his own son, his closest counselor, and most of the entire nation, turned on him and sought to kill him:

Psa 22:1  To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
Psa 22:2  O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
Psa 22:3  But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Psa 22:4  Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
Psa 22:5  They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
Psa 22:6  But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
Psa 22:7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
Psa 22:8  He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

From the time we also are “carnal babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4), we are “in Christ” who is our “beautiful house”:

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

All those words of Isaiah 64: 10-12 are the essence of Christ’s own words while He, too, felt forsaken of His own Father when He was offered up for our sins upon the cross. Notice the parallel here in Matthew 27 with King David’s words in Psalms 22:

Mat 27:39  And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
Mat 27:40  And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
Mat 27:41  Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
Mat 27:42  He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

Mat 27:43  He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.

Compare these words to King David’s words:

Psa 22:7  All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
Psa 22:8  He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

This is what Christ told us the night of His apprehension by the Jews:

Joh 13:16  Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
Joh 13:17  If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
Joh 13:18  I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.
Joh 13:19  Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.
Joh 13:20  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

The way we “receive whomsoever [Christ has sent] is by knowing His ‘voice’, meaning His doctrine:

Joh 10:2  But he that entereth in by the door [Christ, verse 7] is the shepherd of the sheep.
Joh 10:3  To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
Joh 10:5  And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
Joh 10:6  This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
Joh 10:7  Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

The ‘voice’ of Christ has informed us in advance that if we ‘trusted in Him’ then we, too, as He was, will be hated of all men:

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Joh 15:18  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
Joh 15:19  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

Christ knew that obedience to His Father’s words would be much better in the end than giving in to the temptation to avoid the death of the cross.

Joh 15:21  But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.

Christ knew who it was who had sent Him, and we, too, must know who has sent us. He knew full well the sufferings of this present time were not worthy to be compared to the glory which would be revealed in Himself and in His Christ:

Mat 4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Mat 4:10  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

We read and believe this chapter of Isaiah because we know:

Joh 15:20  Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

However, just as Christ told Satan to get behind Him when Satan offered Him the kingdoms of this world in exchange for His worship of Satan, we, with Christ within us will follow in His steps because we also:

Rom 8:18  [… ] reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

That is our study for today, and we will begin chapter 65 next week, Lord willing:

Isa 65:1  I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
Isa 65:2  I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
Isa 65:3  A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
Isa 65:4  Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
Isa 65:5  Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.
Isa 65:6  Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,