1 O that you would rend the heavens and descend,the mountains melting at your presence—
2 as when fire is lit for boiling water,which bubbles over from the heat—to make yourself known to your adversaries,the nations trembling at your presence—
3 as when you performed awesome thingsunexpected by us: your descent of old,when the mountains quaked before you!
4 Never has it been heard or perceived by the ear,nor has any eye seen a God besides you,who acts thus on behalf of those who wait for him.
5 But you wound those of us
who joyfully perform righteousness,
who remember you by following your ways—
athat in them we might ever be saved.a
Alas, you were roused to anger when we sinned,
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, an exemplar of righteousness to Jehovah's people, whom those who didn't repent rejected at the time he gathered Jehovah's elect.
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A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, who personifies Jehovah's anger toward his alienated people and the nations when Jehovah comes out in judgment against them.
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6 and now we have altogether become as those defiled,the sum of our righteousness as a menstruous rag.We are decaying like leaves, all of us;our sins, like a wind, sweep us away.
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, an exemplar of righteousness to Jehovah's people, whom those who didn't repent rejected at the time he gathered Jehovah's elect.
blue
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, who personifies Jehovah's anger toward his alienated people and the nations when Jehovah comes out in judgment against them.
red
7 Yet none calls upon your name,or rouses himself to take hold of you.For you have hidden your face from usand enfeebledb us at the hand of our iniquities.
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, an exemplar of righteousness to Jehovah's people, whom those who didn't repent rejected at the time he gathered Jehovah's elect.
blue
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, who personifies Jehovah's anger toward his alienated people and the nations when Jehovah comes out in judgment against them.
red
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, Jehovah's hand of punishment, whom Jehovah empowers to chasten his alienated people in order to induce them to repent.
red
8 Nevertheless, you are our Father, O Jehovah;we are the clay and you are the potter,and we are all alike the work of your hands.c
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, an exemplar of righteousness to Jehovah's people, whom those who didn't repent rejected at the time he gathered Jehovah's elect.
blue
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, who personifies Jehovah's anger toward his alienated people and the nations when Jehovah comes out in judgment against them.
red
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, Jehovah's hand of punishment, whom Jehovah empowers to chasten his alienated people in order to induce them to repent.
red
A pseudonym of (1) Jehovah's end-time servant, and (2) his contemporary, the king of Assyria/Babylon, whom Jehovah empowers as his hand of deliverance and his hand of punishment.
purple
9 Be not exceedingly angry, O Jehovah;remember not iniquity forever.See, consider that we are all your people!
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, an exemplar of righteousness to Jehovah's people, whom those who didn't repent rejected at the time he gathered Jehovah's elect.
blue
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, who personifies Jehovah's anger toward his alienated people and the nations when Jehovah comes out in judgment against them.
red
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, Jehovah's hand of punishment, whom Jehovah empowers to chasten his alienated people in order to induce them to repent.
red
A pseudonym of (1) Jehovah's end-time servant, and (2) his contemporary, the king of Assyria/Babylon, whom Jehovah empowers as his hand of deliverance and his hand of punishment.
purple
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;Zion is a desert, Jerusalem a desolation.
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, an exemplar of righteousness to Jehovah's people, whom those who didn't repent rejected at the time he gathered Jehovah's elect.
blue
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, who personifies Jehovah's anger toward his alienated people and the nations when Jehovah comes out in judgment against them.
red
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, Jehovah's hand of punishment, whom Jehovah empowers to chasten his alienated people in order to induce them to repent.
red
A pseudonym of (1) Jehovah's end-time servant, and (2) his contemporary, the king of Assyria/Babylon, whom Jehovah empowers as his hand of deliverance and his hand of punishment.
purple
11 Our glorious holy templewhere our fathers praised youhas been burned with fire,and all places dear to us lie in ruins.
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, an exemplar of righteousness to Jehovah's people, whom those who didn't repent rejected at the time he gathered Jehovah's elect.
blue
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, who personifies Jehovah's anger toward his alienated people and the nations when Jehovah comes out in judgment against them.
red
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, Jehovah's hand of punishment, whom Jehovah empowers to chasten his alienated people in order to induce them to repent.
red
A pseudonym of (1) Jehovah's end-time servant, and (2) his contemporary, the king of Assyria/Babylon, whom Jehovah empowers as his hand of deliverance and his hand of punishment.
purple
A chaos motif and pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, who personifies the fire that destroys the lands of Jehovah's apostate people and the nations in Jehovah's Day of Judgment.
red
12 At all this, O Jehovah, will you restrain yourself,in silence letting us suffer so exceedingly?
A pseudonym of Jehovah's end-time servant, an exemplar of righteousness to Jehovah's people, whom those who didn't repent rejected at the time he gathered Jehovah's elect.
blue
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, who personifies Jehovah's anger toward his alienated people and the nations when Jehovah comes out in judgment against them.
red
A pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, Jehovah's hand of punishment, whom Jehovah empowers to chasten his alienated people in order to induce them to repent.
red
A pseudonym of (1) Jehovah's end-time servant, and (2) his contemporary, the king of Assyria/Babylon, whom Jehovah empowers as his hand of deliverance and his hand of punishment.
purple
A chaos motif and pseudonym of the end-time king of Assyria/Babylon, who personifies the fire that destroys the lands of Jehovah's apostate people and the nations in Jehovah's Day of Judgment.
red
Apocalyptic Commentary
Isaiah 64
Some of Jehovah’s people who wade through end-time calamities continue to call on Jehovah (Isaiah 63:15-19), this time harking back to his descent on Mount Sinai anciently (Exodus 19:16-20). Instead of blaming him for their afflictions as before, however (Isaiah 63:17), they acknowledge their guilt (Isaiah 59:12-13) and appeal to him to deliver them (vv 5-9). This shows that the covenant curses they encounter are having the desired effect of inducing them to repent. Hope thus exists for some who fail to participate in the new exodus but who may nevertheless survive to see Jehovah’s coming.
The synonymous a-b-a mini-chiasm of “mountains melting at your presence” (v 1)—a, “nations/Gentiles trembling at your presence” (v 2)—b, and “mountains quaking before you/at your presence” (v 3)—a, identifies the term “mountains” as a metaphor for “nations” (cf. Isaiah 2:12-14; 5:25; 37:24; 41:15; 52:7). Because the Hebrew verbs are synonyms, and because all three instances of “at your presence/before you” are identical, the chiasm’s remaining components are thus also synonymous. Parallel component of Isaiah 13:4 similarly identify “mountains” as a metaphor for “kingdoms.”
Not only a new exodus (Isaiah 63:11-14), but also a new descent on the mount (vv 1-3) features among many end-time versions of ancient events. Separating those of Jehovah’s people who participate in his redemptive acts and those who don’t is whether or not they “wait” for him amid troubled times: “Then will Jehovah delay [his coming], that he may favor you; out of mercy toward you he will remain aloof. For Jehovah is the God of justice; blessed are all who wait for him” (Isaiah 30:18); “I will wait for Jehovah, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and expect him” (Isaiah 8:17).
Although in their newly repentant state this category of Jehovah’s people again “performs righteousness” and “remembers” Jehovah, for a long time they performed wickedness and forgot him. Not qualifying to participate in the new exodus to Zion, they continue to expiate their iniquities and to endure the curses that accrued. Didn’t Jehovah’s servant warn them that they had forgotten their God, their salvation, and not remembered the Rock, their fortress (Isaiah 17:10)? Didn’t he exhort them to forsake their corrupt ways and thoughts and return to Jehovah so he would pardon them (Isaiah 55:7)?
Realizing their error, however, they learned sufficiently from the servant’s example to emulate his righteousness. Although subject to Jehovah’s anger—the king of Assyria/Babylon (Isaiah 10:5)—they receive a second chance to overcome the chaotic consequences of their actions. Although still under a curse, Jehovah’s “ways” are becoming their ways (Isaiah 55:8) as they wade through their descent phase to recovery. Notwithstanding their transgressions weakened them almost irreversibly—their dysfunctional patterns being difficult to overcome—they are set on a return path (Isaiah 10:20-22).
Without the help of proxy saviors, the belated repenters of Jehovah’s people yet suffer the aftermath of their former actions. Cut off from Jehovah’s presence, they are made to realize that without him there is no access to any other saving power (Isaiah 43:11). Their only recourse is to complete the entire repentance process until he revives and heals them (Isaiah 57:15-16; cf. 6:10). The hand of Jehovah that might have delivered them, they rejected, so that now they feel his hand of punishment (Isaiah 50:2, 10-11). Although he called them, they still mostly wallow in spiritual inertia (Isaiah 43:22).
Desiring to reclaim their former privileged position as his covenant people, the repentant sinners who suffer through Jehovah’s Day of Judgment appeal to Jehovah to be numbered with those called “work of his hands”—that is, with Jehovah’s elect who participate in the new exodus to Zion (Isaiah 19:25; 29:23; 45:11; 60:21). Numbered among neither the righteous who were delivered nor the wicked who perish in Jehovah’s day of vengeance, this intermediate category must pass through an entirely new cycle of repentance and righteousness for Jehovah to acknowledge them again as his people.
During the time the righteous who left in the new exodus dwell in the wilderness (Isaiah 35:7-10; 40:3; 41:17-20; 43:19-21) those left behind suffer the covenant curses of invasion by enemies and the desolation of their lands (Isaiah 1:7; 6:11; 17:9; 33:7-9). Jehovah’s fire—the archtyrant—burns up the evildoers of Jehovah’s people and their temple/s (Isaiah 5:24; 9:18-19; 30:27-28; 33:11-14). Because their wickedness ran its course, bringing on their condemnation, so the fruits of their wickedness must run their course until their repentance is complete (Isaiah 3:11; 26:10-11; 48:22; 59:7-11).