# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S262
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

262

II. THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

The entire section is well worth reading, but this key paragraph summarizes Lessing’s approach to our passage:
As chapters 40–55 end, then, an apparent contradiction arises between Israel’s unrighteous behavior
(chapters 1–39) and Yahweh’s promise of a righteous
standing regardless of personal righteousness or
worthiness. Israel is called to be righteous, but fails,
for only Yahweh is righteous. Yet, Yahweh promises
salvation to the unrighteous. Should Israel, then,
continue to sin so that grace may abound (cf. Rom
6:1)? The answer comes in Isaiah 56–66.11

The Text: Is. 64:1–912
The passage should first be read aloud in everyone’s hearing.
The comments and questions that follow will focus very
specifically on only a few of the passages, so it is important
that the whole passage be heard and seen at the start.

“tearing heaven” will strike most as strange. Oswalt’s explanation may be helpful: “The language here is the classical
language of theophany in the OT, with God breaking through
the apparently solid dome of the heavens (cf. 51:6; Ps. 18:10
[Eng. 9]; 144:5) to shake the most solid of the earth’s foundations, the mountains.”13 Isaiah himself, in 40:22, describes
God as the one who “sits above the circle of the earth” and
“who stretches out the heavens like a curtain” (emphasis added). An image of tearing apart the cosmic fabric and descending into earthly reality corresponds perfectly.
The more important question, however, has to do with the
force of this impassioned plea. The line we read translated
as “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,”
begins in Hebrew with the particle ‫( לוּא‬lûʾ) Lessing explains
the significance of the particle in this way:
The particle ּ‫[ לו‬lû] (spelled ‫[ לּוא‬lûʾ] here and in
48:18) introduces an unreal condition (Joüon, § 167
f) in the form of a prayer. Such a condition can refer
to the past, present, or future. ּ‫[ לו‬lû] has an optative
sense, expressing a desire for something that has
not (yet) been achieved, “oh … !” or “would that …”
(see [Gesenius-Kautzsch-Cowley], § 151 e; Joüon, §
163 c; Waltke-O’Connor, § 40.2.2d) … When ּ‫[ לו‬lû]
is followed by a perfect verb, it can denote “a wish
that something might have happened in past time,”
but in both 48:18 and here the construction is used
to “express a wish that something expected in the
future may already have happened” (GKC, § 151 e;
emphasis added). On the Last Day God will rend the
heavens and come down; Isaiah prays that it would
happen now or would have already happened in
his day.14

Perhaps the chief reason for choosing this passage as the
first of the series, and indeed for even offering an Advent-Christmastime Bible study on the theme of justification, is the need to remind ourselves that the Bible’s
teaching about justification includes much, much more than
a simple “not by works.” Justification speaks to our entire
relationship with God, including the way we view Him and
His actions. The prophet Isaiah immediately forces us to
wrestle with these greater issues by his opening words in
chapter 64: “Oh that You would rend!”

Isaiah 64:1
We cannot finish even the first line of our text before encountering points that require some clarification, discussion
and reflection. More specifically, there are two issues that
arise when we try to get Isaiah to speak English. The second
is not quite so difficult, so we’ll consider it first.

11

Delitzsch’s “platterdings Unmögliches”22 may seem too strong
a response to the proposal to read verse 5a as part of Isaiah’s
optative prayer, but his objection does have weight. We
would need a clear reason to take this as optative after the
long intervening retrospective section, wouldn’t we? Those
who hold to that view have not offered such a reason. How,
then, should we read it?

It should be noted here that Lessing understands verse 5a
differently. Although the instructor may not feel it necessary to address this particular question to the class, a brief
explanation of why this study differs from Lessing here will
also provide an opportunity to summarize the logic of the
passage through verse 5.
Lessing translates verse 5a — his verse 4a — as “[Oh that]
you would meet one joyful and doing righteousness; in your
ways they remember you.”18 He explains, “These clauses are
the conclusion to the prayer that begins in 63:19b [English
Text 64:1] with the words “oh that you would tear the heav[pāgaʿəttā] is rendered as an optative, ‘[oh
ens.’ Hence,
that] you would meet.’”19 In support of his interpretation,
Lessing cites Jan Koole’s work Isaiah III. Koole outlines the
way he understands the logic of the passage to run:
Verse 3 proclaimed that Yahweh is the only true
God, who acts as can be expected of a real God, on
behalf of those who await Him. Meanwhile the people had despondently declared that they no longer

1. Advent is not about remembering Christmases past
(and so trying to feel good about Christmas again) or
looking forward to the end of the world (and trying
not to feel bad about that); it is both discipline and

Lessing, Isaiah 56–66, 354.

16

Oswalt, 40–66, 620–621.

18

Lessing, Isaiah 56–66, 342.

Oswalt, 40–66, 617.

17

Oswalt, 40–66, 621footnote 21.

19

Lessing, Isaiah 56–66, 357.

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6 | Justifying Christmas — Leader’s Guide

righteousness (cf. 56:1) with joy, which is, in effect,
to remember God’s ways. Thus to wait for the Lord
is to live the covenant life, to commit the future into
God’s hands by means of living a daily life that shows
that we know his ways of integrity, honesty, faithfulness, simplicity, mercy, generosity, and self-denial.23

live according to (remember) God’s ways, joyfully
doing righteousness, expectantly waiting for him,
and sooner than we think, we are going to meet him
coming to meet us. Jesus spoke in a similar vein
when he said that doing must precede knowing in
God’s economy (John 7:17). If we wonder where God
is in our lives, the key is to begin doing what we
know, allowing him to manifest himself when and
where he chooses. According to Isaiah, the lesson of
sacred history is that he will meet those who wait for
him in this way.25

The thought of the section coheres nicely if the following
progression is seen:
• In 63:19, Isaiah laments that the people have become
like one over whom God had never ruled.
• In 64:1–2, Isaiah pleads with God, who alone can save
in such a desperate situation, to intervene with force,
making Himself known once again.
• In 64:3–5a, Isaiah supports his plea by recalling that
God has acted in the past in such dramatic, unexpected
ways, that He alone has acted in a way to show that He is
God, that this is, in fact, the way God acts toward those
who are right with Him and walk in His ways.
• In 64:5b–7, Isaiah must admit that the people have no
right to expect God to act as He always does toward the
righteous, for they have all sinned and do not now put
their trust in Him.
Before turning to the second half of verse 5, we need to
consider more carefully what it means for the Lord to
“meet” someone. Although the verb ‫( פָּגַע‬pāgaʾ) can be used
in situations of kindness or of hostility, the context here
requires the former. Delitzsch suggests the sense “coming
to the help of ” and paraphrases the half-verse: “When such
as love and do right, walking in Thy ways, remembered
Thee (i.e. thanked Thee for grace received, and longed for
fresh grace), Thou camest again and again to meet them as a
friend.”24 Oswalt comments at greater length:
What may the person who lives his or her life in this
way expect? God will meet them. But what does that
mean? Elsewhere this verb (pāgaʽ) does not have a
particularly positive connotation. It is either neutral (to encounter someone, 1 Sam. 10:5; to make a
request of someone, Jer. 7:16), or negative (to attack
someone, Josh. 2:16). What can it mean here? Perhaps
the word was chosen carefully (esp. in light of the
second bicolon in the verse) to convey the thought
of divine-human interaction. Let a person begin to

20
Jan L. Koole, Isaiah Chapters 56–66, vol. 3 of Isaiah: Part III, trans. Antony P.
Runia (Leuven: Peeters, 2001), 392.

Isaiah 64:5b–7
Oswalt explains the abrupt (non)transition between the two
halves of this verse with a comment bordering on understatement: “But the prophet’s reverie is brought up short by
some hard facts.”27 Isaiah may be able to say that God must
come and deliver them because of His character, but Isaiah
knows that he cannot say God must deliver them because of
their character. In a passage that reminds us of Romans 3,
we see the breadth and depth of Israel’s sin:
• The fact of God’s anger itself indicates that they have
sinned, for He meets the righteous as a friend.

3. We often speak of Advent as our season of waiting.
How do you think you should spend this season of
waiting in light of the words of Isaiah? What are ways
that you can “do righteousness”? What specific things
do you do that you would regard as “remembering God
in His ways”?

• This sinful rebellion has persisted for a long time, it was
no brief memory lapse of God’s righteous ways.
• All have sinned, and this sin is defilement, “defilement
in the presence of the absolutely Clean One.”28
• In fact, they can no longer distinguish clean from filthy;
in fact, what they regard as righteousness is in reality
disgustingly unrighteous.

4. John Oswalt says in his commentary on this verse,
“Thus to wait for the Lord is to live the covenant life,
to commit the future into God’s hands by means of
living a daily life that shows that we know his ways
of integrity, honesty, faithfulness, simplicity, mercy,
generosity, and self-denial. The person who does not do
these things may be waiting for something, but he or
she is not waiting for the Lord.”26 What do you think he
means? Do you agree? How does our behavior reflect
our trust in the Lord?
5. We have argued that this verse should be seen as the
way God acts. (Cf. Delitzsch’s statement above, that
God comes to meet us again and again as a friend.) In
what ways does God come to meet us now?
6. There is a tension in this passage already that the commentators seem to pass by on their way to the bigger
tension that the second half of this verse will introduce.
Isaiah seems to be pleading insistently with God to
act how we expect Him to act — to come and deliver
His people, to intervene and rescue them from their
enemies. At the same time, Isaiah admits that God acts
in unexpected ways. How well do you think you know
how God works? Do you expect Him to act in unexpected ways in your life? If God acts in unexpected
ways, can you still trust Him?

• Sin’s wages are manifested in them — they wither and
dry up like a leaf until the sheer force of their sins severs them completely from their source of life.
• “[N]o one is even concerned enough about the situation to cry out to God for help.”29
• Israel won’t even wrestle with God anymore — won’t
take hold of Him, cling to Him for rescue and blessing,
hold on to His promises for dear life.
In 63:17, Isaiah asked of God, “O Lord, why do you make
us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we
fear you not?” He ends this section by repeating his complaint. Why does no one call upon the name of the Lord?
Why does no one rouse himself to take hold of God? “For/
Because (‫[ כִּי‬kî]) You, O Lord have hidden Your face from
us” (64:7b). Luther explains the Biblical idea of God “hiding
His face”:
God’s face is God’s very presence either in the
Word, the promise and the sacraments, where God’s
thought is set before my conscience, or in deed,
when God removes evils, pestilence, and murder.
Summary: The face is called the design, or the ap27

Oswalt, 40–66, 624.

23

Oswalt, 40–66, 623.

25

Oswalt, 40–66, 624.

28

Oswalt, 40–66, 625.

24

Delitzsch, Isaiah, 468.

26

Oswalt, 40–66, 623–624.

29

Oswalt, 40–66, 626.

Justifying Christmas — Leader’s Guide |

2019 Convention Workbook

Isaiah turns to the past and reminds God Himself of the
way He has acted: awesomely, unexpectedly, fearsomely,
faithfully. From the beginning of time — from the earliest,
mistiest memories of mankind — not a single witness can
claim to have heard with his ear or seen with his eye a god
besides the God Isaiah is praying to. Isaiah brings this happy reminiscence to its summary in verse 5a: “You meet him
who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you
in your ways.”

Oswalt, 40–66, 620.

The thought of v. 3 (Eng. 4) is expanded here. Waiting on the Lord is not passive but active. It is to do

22
“flatly impossible.” Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblischer
Commentar über den Prophet Jesaia (Leipzig: Dörffling und Franke, 1866), 616.

Isaiah 64:5a

15

Delitzsch refers to it as a continuation; Oswalt, as an
expansion:

21
F. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah, vol. 2, trans.
James Martin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, n.d.), 467.

Discussion Questions

2. When you look around at the situation in our community and church, nation and world today, do you
wonder, like Isaiah, how long God will let this go on?

14

Delitzsch, on the other hand, argues,
After the long period governed by ‫[ לּוא‬lûʾ] has
thus been followed by the retrospect in ver. 3 (4),
it is absolutely impossible that ver. 4a (5a) should
be intended as an optative, in the sense of “O that
thou wouldst receive him that,” etc., as Stier and
others propose. The retrospect is still continued
thus, ver. 4a (5a): “Thou didst meet him that rejoiceth
to work righteousness, when they remembered
Thee in Thy ways.”21

We, God’s people, know or can at least imagine the forcefulness of His sudden, heaven-rending entry into our world.
What a show that would be! What a proof of His reality!
Certainly, if God were to do that, all the nations would
know that He was God, all our enemies would tremble at
the sound of His name, right? If only He would have already, think how nice things would be now.

celebration for the here and now in light of all that
God has done and all that He will do. In the same way,
the doctrine of justification is not simply a matter of
knowing how sins get forgiven or how we “get saved”;
it also involves our understanding of who God is and
how He works — and whether or not we can trust Him.
Have there been moments in your life when you pleaded with God, “If only You would/would have …”? What
was going on in your life at those times? What did you
want God to do?

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Why should the prophet wish for this? He is all but demanding that the Lord descend from heaven and mightily
intervene to save His people. Is it righteous to think that He
might do this if He were to find one or even a few? Is Isaiah
bargaining with God for Jerusalem the way Abraham did
for Sodom (cf. Gen. 18)? That seems out of place coming between a brief remembrance and celebration of God’s action
in the past and the clear declaration of the tragic truth that
all are now sinful and that there is no one who “takes hold
of God” (Is. 64:6–7).

This point is especially forceful if this material was
written, as the book claims, during the lifetime of
Isaiah. The prophet sees the tragic condition of his
own day and recognizes that while the far distant
future is bright, nothing but deepening darkness is
immediately ahead. It is a darkness that by no means
culminates in the exile but extends beyond it, even
into the time of the return. Although Isaiah manifestly cannot see that period in any detail (with the
single exception of Cyrus), he does know that even
after the return the problem of the peoples’ sin will
not be solved. It is no wonder that he is heartbroken,
wondering how long God will let this go on.17

Having already called on God to see how bad the
situation is (63:15), the prophet now goes farther
still and pleads for God to break in on that situation.
How he would love to see that bloodstained Warrior
coming up from Edom ([63:]1). Where is he? Their
sins have utterly defeated them, and as a result the
adversaries of the nation and of God are gloating.
Is this what God wants? … Although the Creator is

Lessing, Isaiah 56–66, 14.

hope, v. 2. But v. 4a goes on to express the wish that
there may be an individual (for ‫[ אֶת־‬ʾet-], cf. Joüon
§ 125b) or perhaps even some individuals who live
in covenantal communion with Yahweh. It is hoped
that He will meet such another in his theophany. But
what follows makes it immediately clear that this is
not to be expected, because ‘we all’ (vv. 5a, 5b, 7b,
8b) are sinful and can depend only on grace.20

Oswalt adds a footnote to this section that is very much to
the point for us here today:

Oswalt brings out the force of this in his translation of the
passage: “If you would have just split the heavens and come
down …”15 He explains,

The word translated by the ESV as “rend” is ָּ‫( קָרַ֤עְת‬qāraʿəttā),
the Qal perfect of ‫( קָרַע‬qāraʿ). The verb is very commonly
used for the tearing of garments, but also is used in a variety
of figurative ways (cf. BDB s.v. ‫[ קָרַע‬qāraʿ]). The question
here is not so much what the verb means as what sort of
picture it is to evoke in our minds. “Rend” may not be a
familiar word to everyone in the class, but even the idea of

12
The commentaries can explain the reasons for the differences between the
Hebrew and English versification for our text. In short, English Bibles almost all
include 63:19b as part of 64:1. It is important to note this difference if the Hebrew
text and/or commentaries based on it are being consulted and used for the class.

other than his creation, he can break into it at any
point, and when he does lightning flashes, thunder
rolls, and the earth shakes. In the voice of his deeply
discouraged people, Isaiah cries out for God to do it
again. Nothing else but God’s direct intervention can
break the power of the people’s sin and make them a
witness to the nations instead of a laughingstock …
[T]he wistfulness of [Isaiah’s] wish is enhanced by
the verbs being in the past tense: If you would have
just split the heavens is not first of all a hope that God
might do something in the future; it is a wish that he
had already intervened long ago. Isaiah knows God,
he thinks he knows God’s heart, and it is hard for
him to understand why God would let the situation
get so desperate without having done something
about it.16

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