Isaiah 64:8-12 - Homilies By W. Clarkson

A twofold plea.

The prophet addresses himself to God in earnest prayer for Divine interposition, and he uses a twofold plea.

I. THE INTIMACY AND FULNESS OF GOD 'S RELATIONSHIP .

1 . God was their Creator. He made them as truly as the potter fashions the clay; they were his workmanship ( Isaiah 64:8 ).

2 . God was their Father. He had cared for them and bestowed on them his parental love; would he abandon his own children?

3 . God was their Redeemer. He had rescued them from bondage, had given them their heritage, had made them "his people" ( Isaiah 64:9 ). So fully and so intimately is God related to us now, and we can use the same terms with a deeper and larger meaning, taught of Christ and redeemed by his blood.

II. THE SEVERITY OF THEIR DISTRESS . Zion a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation, "the holy and beautiful house" a calcined ruin, the beauty of the land a barrenness and a blot. The extremity of the Church's misery, its utter helplessness without Divine relief, is a strong plea with which to come to him who gave himself for it and lives to establish it.—C.