Isa 64:6

Isa 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.  Isaiah 64 is a prayer from the exile that God would manifest His might to their enemies (v.1, 2). The writer remembered the time God shook Mount Sinai when Moses was up in the mount receiving the Ten Commandments (v.3; cf Exodus 19:18). People from all generations have been asking for proofs of God’s existence. Even when our Lord Jesus was on this earth performing many wonders and signs, the Jews were still not satisfied; they wanted more: “And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him” (Mark 8:11). Yet, look at the miracles that Christ had already done prior to their request. He had raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead (Mark 5:41, 42), fed 5000 men (Mark 6:35-42), healed a deaf and dumb (Mark 731-35), and fed 4000 men (Mark8:1-9). Apparently, those miracles were not enough for a people who had no faith. The problem is still with us today. There are many who are asking for signs that they may believe. In Matthew’s account, we read of the Lord’s reply to the Pharisees: “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign” (Matthew 12:39). Sin is one reason many fail to see God. The Jews pleaded with God to repeat what He had done at Mount Sinai: “When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence” (v.3). But to those who know God, their knowledge about God is enough to produce faith; they see God through the eyes of faith: “Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways” (v.5). We remember Rahab (Joshua 2). She was a woman from Jericho. She hid the spies sent out by Joshua. She told the spies: “For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you….. the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath” (Joshua 2:10, 11). That Gentile woman didn’t need to see the miracles herself in order to believe in God: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). The miracles of Jesus and the apostles did not produce faith in the Jewish community. It took the preaching of the gospel to convert them (Acts 2:37). Thomas did not believe when the other disciples told him they had seen the Lord. He said to them: “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). Thomas needed to see to believe. Christ appeared to him. He saw and believed. Christ reproved him: “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29). Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed – Rahab did not see the miracles of God but she believed; she was blessed. Her name appeared in the genealogy of Christ (Matthew 1:5). We have not seen Jesus; but we believe based on the Scriptures. We are blessed with eternal life: “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 10:31). Let us continue to walk by faith.