Old Testament Commentary - Isaiah 64

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 64 Israel prays for the Second Coming and for the salvation that shall then be hers.	A prophet's inspired pray for the Second Coming in behalf of the righteous and for and for that salvation which shall then be theirs. Jesus Christ Jehovah is extald as the father of man in the respect that recognizes him as the former of man's temporal being.

1 OH that thou wouldest ^arend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the ^bmountains might flow down at thy presence, 2 As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may ^atremble at thy presence! 3 When thou didst ^aterrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the ^bmountains flowed down at thy presence.
4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the ^aeye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath ^bprepared for him that waiteth for him. 5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.
6 But we are all as an ^aunclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as ^bfilthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. 7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy ^aface from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
8 But now, O LORD, *thou art* our ^afather; we are the clay, and thou our potter^a*; and we all are* the ^bwork of thy hand. For Dust Thou Art In Genesis 3:19, Jehovah states that man is to till the ground and that the 'ground', dust, clay, is what man was taken from. Further Jehovah/Jesus Christ states that this body of man will return unto the dust and in Ecclesiastes 12:7 it states that after the body of man returns unto the dust of the earth that the spirit of man shall return unto God 'who gave it'. This refers to the fact that after the death of man his spirit returns unto Christ who gave his mortal body life and there that spirit of man is to await the resurrection when his spirit will be reunited with man's body which will then be an incoruptible immortal body of flesh and bone.	*8^a thou art* our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter This speaks of Jesus Christ at the Second Coming being recognized as our 'father' and it points out specifically in what respect we may look to him as 'father', in that he did take the dust of the earth and did form our temporal bodies, first with the forming of the physical body of father Adam our ancestor. This is specifically so stated by Jehovah, Jesus Christ, when he did appear unto Mahonri Moriancumr (the brother of Jared) in the book of Ether of the Book of Mormon (Ether 3:8-16). There in Ether Jesus Christ also declares himself as 'the Father and the Son' and references the further process by which men may become 'his sons and daughters', whcih we understand to be that process of rebirth in Christ being born of the water (baptism) and of the spirit (of the Holy Ghost) (see John 3 where Jesus is visted by Nicodemus). Thus Jesus/Jehovah is both 'father' by means of the temporal creation and 'Father**' by means of the proper ordinances of rebirth in him and their actual fulfillment upon the being and souls of men.
9 ¶ Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy ^apeople. 10 Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and our ^abeautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is ^bburned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid ^cwaste. 12 Wilt thou ^arefrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?