Isaiah 64:1

1 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might quake 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 wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might quake at thy presence,

2 as when fire kindleth the brushwood, [and] the fire causeth the waters to boil; to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!

3 When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains quaked at thy presence.

4 For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen a God besides thee, who worketh for him that waiteth for him.

5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou wast wroth, and we sinned: in them [have we been] of long time; and shall we be saved?