Isaiah 64:1-12…The Human Condition and Our Need for a Savior

1 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—

2 as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!

3 When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.

5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?

6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

7 There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.

8 But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

9 Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.

10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

11 Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins.

12 Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?

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The human heart is deeply deceptive. In this chapter, we will discuss the human condition because unless we understand the condition of the human heart, we will never fully understand our desperate need for a Savior.

Modern thinking often promotes ideas about humanity that sound hopeful but contradict what Scripture teaches.

1 Corinthians 3:18 says “Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise.”

1 Corinthians 3:19 says “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 

Let us examine three common myths about humanity. 

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Myth 1: “Mankind Is Good”

Modern culture often tells us:

• Our thoughts are okay

• Our feelings are okay

• There is nothing fundamentally wrong with us

This is not what scripture teaches us. The bible describes all of humanity as being sinful. All of us! 

Romans 3:10 says “None is righteous, no, not one”

No one is truly good compared to the righteousness of God

Psalm 51:5 says “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

David shares with us that our sinful nature is something we are born with and not just something we act upon. 

Romans 7:18 says “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. “

Humanity is sinful and flawed from birth. Unless we understand the diagnosis, how can we receive the cure?

Too often, we try to improve ourselves through effort alone. But Scripture teaches that our problem runs deeper than behavior—it reaches the heart itself.

Myth 2: Good Deeds Can Fix Our Condition

This does not mean good deeds are unimportant.

Isaiah 1:17 says “ Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.”

What I am referring to is that, when it comes to motivation to causes, it should not be done to make ourselves feel good or better by helping others. Without adding God to the equation, some people try to do good deeds to remove the guilt of their own sinful condition.

Do not believe you are morally good simply because you do morally good things. Good works are important, but they do not make us righteous before God.

Titus 3:5 says: “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.”

Acts of kindness, justice, and service are wonderful and should be encouraged—especially when done in the name of Jesus Christ. Our goal should be to bring immediate relief to those who are suffering while also pointing them to the eternal hope found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 5:16 says: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Good works are the fruit of faith, not the source of salvation.

Our sinful condition is an underlying issue that can not be improved by human effort. No matter how good the intention is and no matter how great the result. We are tainted, stained, and sinful from birth. If we do not recognize this sinful condition and we just try to mask our sinful condition and do things to make ourselves feel moral, we deceive ourselves.

Matthew 23:28 “So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Myth 3: God Ranks people

Some people believe God ranks people. They believe that “as long as I am better than other people, I’m okay.”

But God does not compare us to other sinners. His standard is holiness. We always fall short!!

Romans 2:23 says “You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. “

Every one of us does not measure up to the perfect standard of God. But do you know who is absolutely perfect? Jesus Christ.

When we compare ourselves to Christ, we see that we are stained by sin and unable to measure up to His holiness.

We are blessed enough that when we receive Jesus, God does not see our sinful self, He sees Jesus in us. In fact, there will be no judgment-on-judgment day for those who are in Christ. For God only sees Jesus through us.

Revelations 20:6 “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.”

In other words, those who are in Christ are safe from final condemnation.

Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”

John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

Now let us look at how God assesses humanity.

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God’s Diagnosis of Humanity 

Isaiah 64:6 says “We have all become like one who is unclean,  and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf,  and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

In this verse, God is speaking through Isaiah about four comparisons concerning the human condition to other things.

• Like one who is unclean

• All our righteous deeds are like polluted garments 

• We all fade like a leaf (other bibles say shrivel like a leaf)

• Like the wind, our sins sweep over us.

Let us examine this together…

#1 We are like one who is unclean

In the old testament, certain animals, certain actions, certain conditions were considered unclean.  Meaning, they were considered not accepted by God because of a defect. Pigs were considered unclean. Touching a dead person was considered unclean. If you had leprosy in the Old Testament, you were considered unclean. In fact, you had to announce yourself wherever you go and shout “Unclean!! Unclean!!” 

This was done so others would be given a fair warning and not be contaminated with uncleanness. 

When Isaiah mentions that we are all unclean, he's referring to how our sin makes us unworthy and unpresentable to God. We are like outcasts.

#2 Our righteous acts are like polluted garments

The meaning behind this is more deeper than you think and you really have to understand the Old Testament and its ceremonial laws. Allow me to explain. Our best efforts, our best intentions, our right acts are like menstrual cloths as mentioned in Hebrew. The description sounds shocking but in the Old Testament, menstrual cloths represented ritual impurity and uncleanness. Not because menstrual itself was sinful, but because under the ceremonial law, things connected to bodily fluids often made someone temporarily ceremonial unclean.

#3 We are like a shriveled leaf.

Leaf is a picture of something flourishing, vibrant, something green. However, a shriveled leaf is depicted as a leaf that is decaying and dying. Sin does not make us flourish. Sin is a terminal illness that we are all dying from.

#4 Our sin sweeps us away

Meaning that we have little power against temptation. Our sins carry us along like the wind until it sweeps us away and we are no more. We are lost…

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Death is the result of our sinful condition but there is eternal life through Jesus.

In light of all of this, there is  a question in Isaiah 64:5: “How then can we be saved?”

Notice in the beginning of this chapter in verse 1 it says “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—”

This is exactly what God did for us. God sent His only son from heaven to earth being 100% God and 100% Human to die for us. He came to save us because we can not save ourselves. Twice in Isaiah 59:16 and Isaiah 63:5 did God say “my own arm worked salvation for me”

Isaiah 59:16 says “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him. 

Isaiah 63:5 says “I looked, but there was no one to help;  I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me.”

God knows we are incapable of saving ourselves. The single act of Jesus dying on a cross for our sins satisfied the wrath of God that was depicted for us because of our sinful condition. The punishment that we deserve was placed on Jesus so that by believing and receiving Him, we will be saved.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” - Ephesians 2:8–9 

He is gracious and a loving  Father in heaven who saw the human condition. He sent His only son to die on a cross to redeem wicked people for the righteousness of God.

In verse 8, Isaiah called God our “God the Father”

Like a Father who would rescue a helpless child, so our Father in heaven rescues us from sin and death. We are like clay. We are helpless and lifeless until God comes along as the potter and breathes life into us to create something beautiful. He is loving, forgiving, and gives us an opportunity to be saved.

This disease called sin has a cure. If we receive and believe in Jesus, we shall be saved. We must surrender our old ways, our old life to God. 

Revelations 21:5 says this “And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also, He said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”  

Jesus makes all things new including me and you.

We were once dead in sin, separated from God, unable to save ourselves. But through Jesus Christ, we are offered forgiveness, redemption, and new life. The same God who diagnosed the human condition also provided the cure.

We do not clean ourselves up before coming to God—we come to Him broken, and He restores us.

Turn to Jesus. Trust in Him. Receive Him. Because the Savior we desperately need has already come.

Thank you for reading! Share this with a friend, family member, coworker, or anyone who needs the reminder that our hope is not in ourselves, but in Christ.