Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

“O that God would Come Down!”

By Dr. Richard P. Bucher

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! . . .come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! (Is 64:1, 2)

These words, recorded in Isaiah 64, are a cry for divine intervention. It is a fervent prayer that Yahweh would intervene in the lives of his suffering people in a dramatic way. It is an anguished plea that God himself in his own person would rend the heavens and come down to the earth displaying his naked and awesome power. So much so that the mountains would quake. So much so that God’s enemies, the unbelieving nations would tremble in abject fear.

This is a prayer borne out of frustration stemming from God’s apparent unwillingness to help his people; frustration that God is silent, seemingly unconcerned at the plight of his people; frustration that God has allowed evil to triumph; frustration that God hides himself away; frustration from one who is tired of waiting; frustration from one who is weary of walking by faith—one who has heard of God’s mighty deeds, but has not seen them.

“Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down.”

Why did Isaiah ask God to manifest himself in such a way? Because he knew that God had done so before—hundreds of years before at Mt. Sinai. In the sight of all his people the God of Israel himself had come down to the top of the mountain, in the midst of fire, billowing smoke, and the trembling of the earth. On that day God had displayed the awesomeness of his power for all to see (Exodus 19:10-20).

Seven hundred years later, Isaiah is crying out to God to do the same in his day. To visibly and powerfully rip open the heavens and come down and decisively and overwhelmingly deliver his people from their enemies.

We understand the prophet’s frustration all too well, don’t we? We also get frustrated at the seeming absence of God in our world; frustrated that God’s people are hounded and harassed; frustrated at the frequency of their suffering; frustrated that darkness overwhelms the light; frustrated that our prayers aren’t answered; frustrated that we see so little of God’s power; frustrated that God has hidden himself away in heaven, and is seemingly unconcerned or unwilling to help his people.

“Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down.” Oh, that you would show us, and show the whole world once and for all, that you are God, and your power reigns supreme. Oh that you would intervene in my life, my loved one’s lives, my fellow Christian’s lives, and annihilate the evil that hems them in on every side.

Did God ever answer Isaiah’s prayer? Yes. Did he ever.

God opened the heavens and came down to earth. But not at all as Isaiah envisioned it in Isaiah 64. God himself came to earth, not as he did at Sinai. Not as the awesome Son of God in fire and smoke, earthquake and fury. But God came down to earth as the Word made flesh, the Son of God made man. God came down to earth as a newborn baby. Not in power, but in weakness. Not in pageantry and spectacle, but in obscurity and anonymity. Not in brilliance and glory. But under the cover of darkness. Not in fearful sound, but in gentle silence. Not as invincible Deity, but as vulnerable infant.

In the little babe of Bethlehem God answered Isaiah’s prayer. But in a far, far greater way. He came as the only Savior that could save us. One that is both God and man in one Person: Christ, the Lord, who “came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15).

Here’s the thing, though. The way God came in Bethlehem is the way that he continues to come: quietly, hidden from the world, in a way that requires faith to perceive. Through human words, very human pastors and people, and earthy elements like bread, wine, and water. That is still God’s normal way of working.

A large part of our struggle, however, is that we aren’t satisfied with the way God chose to come down to us, and the way he has chosen to be with us still. Like Isaiah, we want him to reveal his naked power, to force the nations to acknowledge, to destroy evil once and for all. Or at least we want him to answer all our prayers, to show forth miracles, and to turn back evil in our lives in a dramatic, visible, and awesome way. We struggle with God’s hiddenness, his silence, and his seeming weakness in the face of evil.

The day is coming when God will fully answer Isaiah’s prayer and ours. On the last day God will come down to earth a second time. On that day, he will come in undiminished power and glory, and all of creation will tremble before him. On that day, “men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens” (Mark 13:26-27). “The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God.” (1 Th 4:16). On that day, “the heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare,” being replaced by “new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:10, 13).

In the meantime, do not let the quietness and hiddenness of God’s ways fool you. He IS working, and powerfully so—in his way and his timing. Even here he continues to intervene in the lives of his people—sometimes in dramatic and miraculous ways. At times God may seem to be unconcerned or unwilling to help. But the opposite is true. God wants more than anything to help you, to answer your prayers, and deliver you from whatever oppresses you. A blessed and merry Christmas to all.

December 2005

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