Isaiah 64:
1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!
2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!
3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
4 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins.

8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord; do not remember our sins for ever. Oh, look upon us we pray, for we are all your people.
10 Your sacred cities have become a wasteland; even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins.
12 After all this, Lord, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?
 
Revival
An increasing number of us at BCC are praying for revival in our town and in our nation. We pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church, for God to come in power.

Let’s see what we can learn from the prayer we have just read in the book of Isaiah.

 
1: Revival in the Bible
For this study I’m going to avoid looking at past examples from outside the bible as models, e.g. Welsh revival, Hebrides, etc. that we might of heard or read about. We can learn something from these, and definitely be inspired by the stories. But our doctrine is based on the word of God. Let’s start at verse 1:

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! (Isaiah 64:1)

So, if we want to be biblical about what revival might look like, it would mean that when it happens, we’d all agree that it was as if God had torn the sky wide open and manifest his presence and power so clearly that it was undeniable to all who witnessed it!

This reminds me of the day of Pentecost:

1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:1-4)

And that was just the beginning! Look a few chapters later and you read:

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (Acts 4:31)

So if we are to pray for revival as the Bible portrays it, let’s pray that God would rend the heavens over our town.

But let’s get back to our passage.

 
2: Why did Isaiah pray this prayer?
Mountains
1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!

When Isaiah prayed that mountains would tremble, I wonder if he had in mind physical mountains only. Perhaps there are other mountains that cannot be moved without God’s help. Obstacles in our way. Certainly in 700 BC Isaiah saw many obstacles to the perfect will of God. When we pray for revival, let’s think of some of those obstacles and pray that God would cause mountains to tremble! Remember,

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