Isaiah 64:1

1 Oh that thou would rend the heavens, that thou would come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,

Isaiah 64:1 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 64:1

O that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst
come down
Before, the church prayed that the Lord would look down from heaven and behold, ( Isaiah 63:15 ) , now that he would open the heavens, and descend from thence; not by change of place, for he fills heaven and earth with his presence; but by some visible display of his power, in destroying her enemies, and delivering her from them. Some take this to be a prayer for the first coming of Christ from heaven to earth, by his incarnation, in order to redeem and save his people; and others that it is for his second coming to judgment, to take vengeance on his adversaries, when his wrath will burn like fire; but rather it is for his spiritual coming, to avenge his church and people on antichrist, and the antichristian states. She had seen him, as a triumphant conqueror, stained with the blood of his enemies; and now she prays for the accomplishment of what she had seen in vision and prophecy: that the mountains might flow down at thy presence;
kings and princes of the earth, and kingdoms and states governed by them, compared to mountains for their seeming firmness and stability; yet these will melt like wax, and flow like water, tremble and disappear at the presence of the King of kings, when he comes forth in his great wrath against them; as it is explained in the next verse, that the nations may tremble at thy presence;
see ( Revelation 16:20 ) . Here ends the sixty third chapter in the Targum.

Isaiah 64:1 In-Context

1 Oh that thou would rend the heavens, that thou would come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,

2 as when the melting fire burns, the fire causes the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the Gentiles may tremble at thy presence!

3 As thou didst come down when thou didst terrible things which we did not look for, that the mountains flowed down at thy presence.

4 Nor have men heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen a God beside thee, that thou might do it again for the one who waits in him.

5 Thou didst come out to meet him that with rejoicing had worked righteous ness. In thy ways they remembered thee. Behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: thy ways are eternal, and we shall be saved.