The Intercessory Prayer of Isaiah the Watchman (Isaiah 63:15-19)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
15 Look down from heaven, And see from Your habitation, holy and glorious. Where are Your zeal and Your strength, The yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me? Are they restrained? 16 Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of us, And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Lord, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name. 17 O Lord, why have You made us stray from Your ways, And hardened our heart from Your fear? Return for Your servants’ sake, The tribes of Your inheritance. 18 Your holy people have possessed it but a little while; Our adversaries have trodden down Your sanctuary. 19 We have become like those of old, over whom You never ruled, Those who were never called by Your name.
Introduction
In America, there is a famous story regarding an American Native Indian and inner battles. The person said that there are two dogs living inside of me. One dog is a wicked and foolish dog and the other dog is very nice and kind. But the wicked dog inside of me, it is always picking a fight with the good dog. The person asked a question, “Inside of that battle, which dog always wins in the end?” The person thought and replied, “The dog that is fed best wins.” I think this is a very important message. Within our heart, there is always evil and good inside of us, and darkness and light is always fighting within us. Who wins then? Whatever our heart follows will win. What I am always thinking about, that will feed either the good or the bad inside of you. If you always have bad thoughts, then your bad side will win. But if you have good thoughts, then the good side will win. Whatever you think and act, that will determine your life. What is good for us? Are we giving enough attention to prayer, God’s covenant, and the word of God? This is a very important determination for us to have. What kind of thoughts are you having right now? That will determine your life and whether you will succeed or not. If you always think about God’s covenant, then God will always answer us accordingly. Today’s sermon is very important that God has given to us. Last week, God gave the message of love to the Israelites and told the Israelites to remember what He did for Moses. When God led the Israelites out of Egypt through the work of the Exodus. Remember the God who blessed the Israelites with the pillars of fire and clouds, and gave them water and food. Remember the God who allowed the Red Sea splitting and allowed them to walk safely through it. Today’s sermon is about how when Isaiah was praying and praying the intercessory prayer for his people.
1. Isaiah's Covenant Prayer
1) Isaiah's Intercessory Prayer
Verse 15 - God gave them His word of His covenant but the reality was that the Israelites were still caught up in captivity and suffering. God said that He loved His people and led them out of Egypt but they are living as captives of Babylon and are suffering. You live your walk of faith but there are times when you still are not receiving answers to your prayers. Have you prayed this kind of prayer? You are having a hard time and you feel like you are in constant agony. Do you feel abandoned by God? You plead for God to help you. Have you prayed this kind of prayer? Isaiah was praying this kind of prayer for the Israelites and nation. There is something that we must think about right now. Isaiah knew why the Israelites were suffering and living as slaves of Babylon. They left God and fell into idol worship so Isaiah knew that they would fall into suffering and captivity. Isaiah even warned the Israelites that all of these events will happen but despite all of that, Isaiah continued to pray to God even though he knew that the Israelites made a mistake. This shows how we need to pray the intercessory prayer. You know everything and know the background of the people around you but we are seeking help from God. That is why when you do intercessory prayer, you shouldn’t pray for others with your own standards. When you pray for Leo or Charles, you shouldn’t pray for their lacking to be filled but you are asking God for help and God to comfort them.
2) Isaiah's Covenant Prayer
Verse 16 - Why does God have to answer us? It is because God is our Father. Isaiah had absolute assurance of God’s covenant. He was entering into God’s absolute and promised covenant. Even though Israel and Abraham do not acknowledge us, God remembers us and God is our Father. Our ancestors may not remember God but God remembers us and God is our Father. God is our Creator and He is our Father. Isaiah knew very well of God’s love. Last time, we spoke about God who loves us like a mother’s love, the Raham love. This love of God, Isaiah knew and felt very well.
Luke 15 - This speaks about the story of the prodigal son. This is God is our Father. This God is a God of love and Isaiah is pleading for God to remember them.
Isaiah held onto Exodus 20:2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” - When the Israelites were in Egypt, they were worshiping idols. They were forced to worship idols but God saved them and led them out of Egypt. God saved them and led them out through the blood of the young lamb. God was saying that God saved their ancestors, the Israelites who worship idols so Isaiah was pleading with God to save the Israelites once again.
2. Isaiah's Watchman Prayer
1) Prayer for mercy
Verse 17 - We need to hold onto this passage. Isaiah was asking why God left them and made the Israelites stray away from God. Isaiah didn’t understand so which means that if God is holding onto them, then the Israelites shouldn’t have strayed away. Many people have this kind of misunderstanding when they live their walk of faith. If we are people of God, then God should not let us do bad things. God should block us and protect us from doing bad things. Many people live their walk of faith in a wrong way and have this misunderstanding. Right now, we are speaking about the five Calvinism during the Friday worship services. Whether you go to heaven or hell, how is this determined by? This is determined by your own will.
Deuteronomy 30:15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.” - When the Israelites were led out of Egypt and went into the wilderness, whether they were faced by hardships or life of blessings. God allowed them to determine that. We call that horizontal covenant. Vertical covenant is given by God through His grace. God has given us His covenant and if we hold onto His covenant, then God will bless us. But if we don’t hold onto God’s covenant, then we have no choice but to face hardships and tribulations. That is a horizontal covenant. Then, why am I suffering?
The answer is seen in Isaiah 63:10 “But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; So He turned Himself against them as an enemy, And He fought against them.” - This is not because we forgot about God’s covenant but we have rebelled against God’s covenant. We chose to disobey God’s covenant. Isaiah knew of this. He knew of this and kept on praying to God. He prayed to God, “Return for Your servants’ sake, The tribes of Your inheritance.” There is no way to not to make mistakes in your life but if you repent before God and return back to God each time, then God will accept and help you. And, God will return back to you because of your sake and the tribe of your inheritance. This is because God made a covenant with our forefathers like Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, and many more. This means that God remembers His covenant with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob so God will continue to return back to us.
2) Prayer for restoration
Verses 18-19 - If we want to be forgiven and blessed by God then we need to continue to enter into prayer. The chosen people of God, the Israelites, were given the land of Israel by God. They conquered that land for a short period of time but they only conquered that land for only a short period of time. God promised Abraham that He will bless His people and the land for eternity. But Isaiah was complaining to God that the Israelites have lost their land. Isaiah was pleading to God to keep His promise with Abraham.
Verse 19 - God is our Father but the Israelites are living as captives not as ruler of their own land that was promised to them. God promised Abraham that Abraham’s sons and people of Israel will be blessed eternally. God is our Father but God is not answering the Israelites and their prayers. That is why Isaiah was praying to God to answer them.
From here, we need to see the reason why the Israelites fell into this situation in the first place. The reason why they fell into this problem was because they lost hold of God’s covenant as seen in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” - What is the core covenant of God? It is this passage. Love our Lord with all of our heart, mind, and soul. This is the one covenant that God wants us to hold onto. Whether we will live a life of blessings or a life full of hardships, this will determine that. On Friday worship service, we spoke about the love of God as we spoke about the five Calvinism. This is everything within our walk of faith. Do you love God? How much do you love God? How can we determine that we love God? Love God how much God loves us. God gave up His life for us. If that is so, how should we live our lives? As we live our walk of faith, we confess that we love God but most of the time, we live for our own sake and benefit. You ask God to bless you so that you can live a better life on this earth. We need to examine ourselves. You say that you love God but we all have ulterior motives inside of us. God loves us so much that He gave up His life for us unconditionally. Many Early church members showed their love to God but staking their lives for God. You can show your love for God by having success in worship. You need to direct all of your direction towards God’s glory. Then, God will show us great blessings and answers. We are not just knowing our identity and authority but we need to experience this power. Enjoy these blessings. We need the power to overcome darkness.
3. 공중권세 잡은 자를 이기는 힘
1) The Bartizan of Salvation
Hold onto Matthew 16:16 “Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ ” - We need to make this confession within our heart and if we do, then there are three blessings that will come to us. The blessings that will come to us, the Gates of Hades will not overcome us, the church will be built on this rock, and the answers of the keys of heaven and earth will be given to us.
2) The Bartizan of True Testimony
Ephesians 2:1-2 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.” - What does this mean? Those who have the answer of Christ, you possess true life. You are freed from the power of death.
3) The Bartizan of True Power
Ephesians 2:6-7 “And raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” - Those who possess their answer of Christ, then you have the answer of the heavenly throne. You have the power to save the world. Have victory in Christ.
Conclusion
James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” - Every gift, source of power, and life comes from God and heaven above. If we love God then God will love us and show us great answers just like He did for His people in the past. May the answer of Daniel and his three friends received, may that answer become ours.
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