In our increasingly polarized world, it’s easy to feel good about ourselves. We take pride in our beliefs and practices, even as we look down on those we consider to be deluded or even destructive.
But Isaiah reminds us that God has little use for those who say “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am holier than you!” In fact, such spiritual pride is as offensive to God as smoke from a fire blowing into the eyes (Isaiah 65:5).
Why is that? In no small part because those who see themselves as better than others are inevitably hypocrites. In Isaiah’s day, such hypocrites might have scorned pagans even though they themselves worshipped the true God in the wrong place or in the wrong way (Isaiah 65:3). Sometimes these hypocrites selected what parts of God’s law to observe while intentionally dismissing the rest (Isaiah 65:4). How many of us modern Christians are guilty of the same things?
In contrast, God says He will welcome anyone “who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word” (Isaiah 66:2). Yes, instead of considering ourselves better than others, we need to realize that “all of us have become like one who is unclean.” Instead of being proud of our spiritual achievements, we should see that “all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment” (Isaiah 64:6).
And as those who understand that we are nothing more than sinners in need of a Savior, we must throw ourselves completely on God’s mercy, submitting ourselves to Him as if we were clay in the hands of a potter (Isaiah 64:8). For it is only as we humble ourselves in this way, bowing down before Him, that we can be sure He will comfort and bless us in the new heavens and new earth He is even now bringing into being.
Isaiah 64:1-12
Oh, that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Thy presence–
2 As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil– To make Thy name known to Thine adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Thy presence!
3 When Thou didst awesome things which we did not expect, Thou didst come down, the mountains quaked at Thy presence.
4 For from of old they have not heard nor perceived by ear, Neither has the eye seen a God besides Thee, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.
5 Thou dost meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, Who remembers Thee in Thy ways. Behold, Thou wast angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved?
6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 And there is no one who calls on Thy name, Who arouses himself to take hold of Thee; For Thou hast hidden Thy face from us, And hast delivered us into the power of our iniquities.
8 But now, O LORD, Thou art our Father, We are the clay, and Thou our potter; And all of us are the work of Thy hand.
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD, Neither remember iniquity forever; Behold, look now, all of us are Thy people.
10 Thy holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and beautiful house, Where our fathers praised Thee, Has been burned by fire; And all our precious things have become a ruin.
12 Wilt Thou restrain Thyself at these things, O LORD? Wilt Thou keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?
