Isa. 64:1-2

1 Oh [luw'] that thou wouldest rend [qara`] the heavens [shamayim], that thou wouldest come down [yarad], that the mountains [har] might flow down [zalal] at thy presence [paniym],

2 As when the melting [hamac] fire ['esh] burneth [qadach], the fire ['esh] causeth the waters [mayim] to boil [ba`ah], to make thy name [shem] known [yada`] to thine adversaries [tsar], that the nations [gowy] may tremble [ragaz] at thy presence [paniym]! KJV-Interlinear

1 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! NASB

We will continue our study of the Tribulation in this chapter of Isaiah, even through to the end of the book of Isaiah. Our study of Revelation has taken us through several books now, and when we reach the end of Isaiah then we will be returning to Revelation 19, where we left off quite some time ago.

Chapter 64 is a continuation of the prayer of the remnant of the Tribulation. That remnant will be the sole survivors of the last great battle of human history.

This group of people will have begun the Tribulation as unbelievers, as will everyone who is not removed in the Rapture. They will see the disasters of the Tribulation. They will see the absurdity of the governing policies of the Tribulation. They will see the deterioration of common sense and thinking of the human race.

And, here they are fed up with all of the absolute stupidity of humanity. They ask, even knowing that God will not comply, but still they will make their thoughts known, asking God to literally rip apart the skies, and come down and shake some sense into the dummies of the world. The world being overflowing with dummies.

A fire in brushwood is something that, when it starts, continues in a raging fire virtually out of control, and does not quit until all of the fuel for the fire is consumed. It is a very fast fire and a very hot fire. Some of the fires in the Midwest and Southern California, which we have seen on television, are good examples of fires raging out of control.

We have probably all been the target of gossips, or bureaucracies, or office politics perhaps, and they have brought us to our wits end. They attack ruthlessly and their attacks are always motivated by lies, by arrogance, by incompetence, by jealousy, by hate and so forth.

We just want God will look down from His heaven and show them the error of their ways. Of course we would prefer that God use a little of His muscle to knock their brains into alignment, at least so that they will simply leave us alone and wake up to the truth of the error of their ways.

But no such luck comes to any of us. Why?

Well, we know that those who would destroy us are already on their way to self-destruction, and there is nothing that they can do to bring harm to us anyway. We might suffer a little when others actually listen to the gossip, or when the bureaucracies refuse to straighten out some records. But, in the long run, our lives are far better off than any of their lives will be.

Our battle is a long-term one and we let God do all of that fighting in our behalf. We wait patiently and in the end, we will win the war.

Their battles are always short lived. The evil folks of the world claim victories for their short-term attacks, never thinking that they are losing the war, even as they celebrate their little victories in their attempts to destroy you.

Though lightning does not strike when they do their evil deeds, the world is moving closer to the shaking point for each one of them. Evil folks will one day die, and therein is their ultimate defeat.

And, by the way, there is really little difference between the gossips of the world, and the terrorists of the world. They both work toward the destruction of others, for no really good reason except that they just hate their targets. One uses their tongues, while the others use bombs.

God will nail both in due course.

Although the sky won t be torn in half in an extremely dramatic event that will impress even the most resistant person. There will come a time when this kind of impression will come, but it won t be to impress people into changing their attitudes, it will be to kill, literally kill, millions and millions of people who won t change their minds no matter what God does.

When Jesus was here in the First Advent, people came to see the healing show. They came to be impressed, to be entertained. They still sent Him to the Cross and execution for absolutely no crime.

All people who live in history, will either be positive toward God, or they will be negative. They will either change their attitude or they won t.

And when history comes down to its last generation, even to the end of the Millennium when God assembles all of the unbelievers of history before the Great White Throne, they will still remain defiant against Him, even in the face of the Lake of Fire. Such is the nature of the defiant person.

All those who will be saved, will be saved. All of those who will not be saved, will refuse even to the bitter end.

There is no magic, no event, no lightning strike, and no amazing feat that will change the minds of evil people.

Now, you and I do not know who will and who won t be saved. We do not have that right to make that determination. Sticks and stones. So we give the gospel and good news to everyone, even those who would hate us. God will sort everyone out in due course.

God gave us all Bible doctrine. We will either look to Him through that, or we won t look to Him at all. Doctrine is far more powerful for convincing, than any amazing feats.

Now is the time to post a prayer.