| Isaiah 64 Previous Chapter | Next Chapter 1 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might flow down at your presence, 2 As when the fire burns brushwood and causes the waters to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations may tremble at your presence! 3 When you did terrible things which we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains flowed down at your presence. 4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God beside you, who acts for the one who waits for him.1 [Paul quotes this scripture in 1 Corinthians: "Man's eye has not seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, the things that God has prepared for those who love him." The key difference: Isaiah reads waits, 1 Cor 2:9 reads love. So to love God is to wait on Him: we wait on Him to hear His words that teach us, convict us, encourage us, and guide us — that is loving God.] 5 You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, for we sinned, and we have continue in them; shall we then be saved? 6 But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is like filthy rags; and we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities have taken us away like the wind. 7 And there is no one who calls upon your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities. 8 Yet, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand. 9 Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD, nor remember out iniquities forever; behold, we beseech you, we are all your people. 10 Your holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. 11 Our holy and our beautiful temple, where our fathers praised you, is burned up with fire; and all our pleasant things are in ruins. 12 Will you restrain yourself because of these things, O LORD? Will you hold your peace and afflict us beyond measure? Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | |||||||||
1 Men have not heard, nor perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God beside you, who acts for the one who waits for him. To wait on God is an act of love for God. Notice the similarity to Paul's statement: Man's eye has not seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, the things that God has prepared for those who love him. 1 Cor 2:9. (To wait is to silently listen in humility.) Isaiah reads, who waits for Him; 1 Corinthians reads, who love Him. To love God is to wait on Him: we wait on Him to hear His words that teach us, convict us, encourage us, and guide us — that is loving God. As Jesus said:
"He who has my commands, and obeys them, it is he who loves me; and he who loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will show myself to him.
(we have to wait on God to hear His commands)
If a man loves me, he will obey my spoken words; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him. John 14:21,23.
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